The 

Tragedy  of  Andersonville 


TRIAL  OF  CAPTAIN  HENRY  WIRZ 

THE  PRISON  KEEPER 


BY 
GENERAL    N.    P.    CHIPMAN 

Judge  Advocate  of  the  Military  'Court 

Lt.  Co.  H,  and  Major  2d  Iowa  Infy;  Col.  and  Adj't  A.  D.  C.  U.  S.  Vol. 
Brevet  Brig.  Gen'l 


SECOND  EDITION 

Revised  and  Enlarged 

PRICE  $2.00 


Distributing   Agency: 

Captain  E.  L.  Hawk,  18th  and  114th  Ohio  Infy. 
Geo.  W.  Picks,  50th  Pa.  Vols. 

Sacramento,  California 


Address: 

Geo.  W.  Kicks, 

Manager 


Published  by  the  Author 
1911 


COPYRIGHT  AUGUST,  191t 

BY  N.  P.  CHIPMAN 
SACRAMENTO,  CALIFORNIA 


THE     BLAIR-MURDOCK     COMPANY 
SAN    FRANCISCO,   CALIFORNIA, 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

Motive  Shown  for  the  Publication  of  the  Evidence  Taken  at  the  Trial  of  Wirz — 
Charges  Made  by  Jefferson  Davis  in  1890 — The  Eevival  of  these  Accusations 
by  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  in  1905,  that  Wirz  Was  "Judi 
cially  Murdered"  and  Died  a  Martyr  after  Conviction  upon  Charges  of  Which 
He  was  Innocent — Erection  of  Monument  to  Wirz  in  1909  at  Andersonville — 
False  and  Misleading  Inscriptions  on  the  Monument — Protest  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Eepublic — Proceedings  at  National  Encampment  in  1906  at 
Minneapolis — Important  Feature  of  Trial — Exposure  of  Confederate  Policy 
and  Its  Guilty  Participation  in  Crime — More  Union  Soldiers  Died  at  Ander 
sonville  Than  Killed  in  Action  in  Combined  Battles  of  Second  Bull  Run, 
Antietam,  Chancellorville,  Gettysburg,  and  the  Wilderness.  Pages  11-18. 

CHAPTER    II. 

Jefferson  Davis  and  Andersonville — His  Published  Article  Briefly  Outlined  and 
Its  Specific  Charges  Noted  and  Examined — Some  Gross  Misstatements  Cor 
rected — His  Accusations  Revived  and  Reasserted  by  the  United  Daughters  of 
the  Confederacy  by  Inscriptions  on  the  Wirz  Monument — Issues  of  Wirz's 
Defenders  and  Confederacy  Clearly  Defined — Charge  Refuted  That  Federal 
Government  Responsible  for  Deaths.  Pages  19-26. 

CHAPTER  III. 

Some  Hitherto  Unpublished  Facts — Organization  of  the  Court — The  Charges  and 
Specifications — Special  Pleas  Interposed. — Jurisdiction  of  the  Court — Once  in 
Jeopardy — Right  of  Parole  Claimed — Argument — Pleas  Overruled — Facts  as 
to  Wirz's  Arrest — Wirz  Pleads  Not  Guilty — Rules  of  Procedure — Circum 
stances  of  Wirz's  Arrest— Wirz's  Military  Status— His  Place  of  Burial— The 
True  Significance  of  the  Trial.  Pages  27-50. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Location  of  Andersonville  Prison — Description  of  the  Prison  Pen — Wirz  Assigned 
to  Its  Command — Early  Condition  of  the  Prisoners  Deplorable — Official  Re 
ports  of  Rebel  Officers — Injunction  to  Abate  Prison  as  a  Nuisance  Because 
of  Noxious  Odors — Upon  Whom  Rested  Responsibility  of — Origin  of  Dead 
Line — Rebel  Authorities  at  Richmond  Informed — Mortality  Increased — In 
One  Month  2,993  Died.  Pages  51-64. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Condition  of  the  Prison  Continued — Sufferings  of  Prisoners  Depicted — Report  of 
Colonel  D.  T.  Chandler — Report  of  Dr.  Joseph  Jones — Causes  of  Sickness  and 
Death  Shown — Responsibility  Fixed — Confederate  Authorities  at  Richmond 
Had  Full  Knowledge — Colonel  Chandler's  Testimony — Testimony  of  Dr.  Jones 
— Six  Square  Feet  to  the  Man — Barely  Room  to  Comfortably  Lie  Down — 
Inadequate  Police  Control — Prisoners  Try,  Condemn,  and  Hang  Six  of  Their 
Number — Prisoners  Murdered  by  Their  Fellow-Prisoners  for  Their  Clothing 
and  Food — The  Bodies  of  the  Dead  Mutilated — Reports  by  Surgeon  Stevenson, 
Surgeon  White,  and  Surgeon  Thornburg — Dr.  Jones's  Report  Graphic  Descrip 
tion  of  Prison  and  Hospital — Causes  of  Death  and  Unparalleled  Suffering. 
Pages  65-110. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Conditions  at  the  Prison  (continued) — Reports  and  Testimony  of  Surgeons  on 
Duty  at  the  Prison,  Namely:  Dr.  Amos  Thornburg;  Dr.  F.  T.  Castlen;  Dr. 
G.  S.  Hopkins;  Dr.  G.  LeB.  Rice;  Dr.  John  C.  Bates;  Dr.  R.  G.  Roy;  Dr. 
B.  J.  Head — Testimony  of  Dr.  William  Balser,  Who  Had  Occasion  to  Treat  a 
Large  Number  of  Prisoners  from  Andersonville  on  Their  Way  to  Freedom 
from  Prison  Life — They  were  Living  Skeletons — Seventy-five*  Per  Cent  of 
Dead  Might  Have  Been  Saved  by  Proper  Care — Actual  Square  Feet  to  Man  °7 
or  3  by  9  Feet.  Pages  111-142. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Conditions  at  Andersonville  Continued — Testimony  of  Rev.  Father  Hamilton — No 
Shelter  from  Sun  or  Storms — Father  Hamilton  Crawled  into  Burrows  to  Ad 
minister  Last  Sacrament  to  Dying — Prisoners  Covered  with  Vermin — Tes 
timony  of  Citizens  Living  in  the  South — Publicity  of  the  Suffering  of  Pris 
oners — Supplies  Were  Obtainable  and  Sufficient  to  Have  Sustained  the  Prison 
ers — Prisoners  Might  Have  Been  Sheltered — The  Prison  Might  Have  Been 
Enlarged — Means  of  Transportation  Available — Supplies  Sent  by  Sanitary 
Commission.  Page  143-162. 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Testimony  of  Union  Soldiers,  Prisoners  at  Andersonville — Their  Descriptions  of 
the  Horrors  of  That  Prison  Pen — Personal  Experiences — Men  Fight  for  Room 
to  Lie  Down — Private  Property  Taken  from  Them — Testimony  of  Major- 
General  J.  H.  Wilson  and  Colonel  George  Welling  of  the  U.  S.  Army  on  Con 
dition  of  Prison  at  Close  of  the  War — Simple  Remedies  Pointed  Out— General 
Wilson  Concludes  that  There  was  Sinister  Design  in  the  Location  and  Its 
Restricted  Area — Goldwin  Smith's  Opinion  of  Treatment  of  Prisoners  on 
Both  Sides — General  Sherman  Found  Supplies  Abundant  in  Georgia  in  1864. 
Pages  163-191. 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Conditions  at  Prison  (continued) — Testimony  of  Father  Hamilton  and  Other 
Witnesses  Called  for  the  Defense — Horrors  of  the  Prison  Pen  Confirmed — 
Witnesses  for  Defense  Corroborate  Testimony  of  the  Prosecution  in  Many 
Essential  Particulars — Diary  of  Rev.  Father  Clavereul — Father  ClavereuTs 
Account  a  Most  Pathetic  Picture  of  Human  Suffering.  Pages  192-239. 

CHAPTER  X. 

Treatment  of  Prisoners  (continued) — Cruel  and  Inhuman  Punishments  Inflicted — 
Ba1!?  and  Chains  Used  as  Means  of  Punishment — Prisoners  Confined  in  the 
Stocks  and  Left  Exposed  to  the  Weather — The  "Dead-Line"'  and  Its  Attend 
ant  Perils — Ferocious  Dogs  Used  to  Hunt  Down  Escaping  Prisoners — Prison 
ers  Torn  and  Mutilated  by  These  Dogs — Prisoners  Die  from  Effects — Impure 
and  Deadly  Vaccine  Matter  Used  for  Vaccination  of  the  Prisoners,  Causing 
Many  Horrible  Deaths — Wirz  Boasts  of  His  Service  to  the  Rebellion  in  Slaying 
Prisoners — Revolting  Manner  of  Handling  and  Burying  the  Dead — Testimony 
of  Retel  Witnesses  Confirms  Testimony  of  Wirz's  Cruelty  to  Prisoners— Report 
on  Prisons  by  Urited  States  Sanitary  Commission  and  Committee  of  House 
of  Representatives.  Pages  240-300. 

CHAPTER  XL 

Testimony  of  Witnesses  for  Defense  upon  the  Specifications  of  Acts  of  Cruelty 
and  of  Murder  in  Violation  of  the  Laws  of  War — Man  Shot  on  Dead  Line — 
Hunted  Down  by  Dogs — Put  in  Stocks  and  Chain  Gang— Wirz  Kicked  and 
Abused  Prisoners — Very  Profane— High  Temper— Carried  Pistol— Threatened 
to  Use  It — Some  Acts"  of  Kindness  Shown — Witnesses  Never  Heard  of  His 
Killing  or  Treating  a  Prisoner  Cruelly — Negative  Testimony.  Pages  301-332. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

Testimony  of  Witnesses  to  the  Charge  of  Murder — Prisoners  Shot  by  Wirz — Pris 
oners  Shot  by  His  Order — Prisoners  Killed  by  the  Dogs — Many  Instances  of 
Wirz's  Brutality — Men  Killed  by  Being  Shot  in  Stocks  and  Chain  Gang. 
Pages  333-353. 

CHAPTEE  XTTT. 

Resume  of  the  Foregoing  Chapters — Some  Comment  upon  and  Deductions  from 
the  Evidence — Mortuary  Statistics — Johnson's  Island  and  Andersonville  Com 
pared — Table  of  Deaths  by  Months — Number  of  Dead  at  Andersonville,  13.171 
— Deaths  in  Twenty-five  Federal  Prisons  in  1864  Compared  with  Anderson 
ville — Stockade  and  Its  Terrors  Described — Condition  of  Prisoners  Known  at 
Richmond — Hospital  and  Prison  Co-ordinated  to  Destroy  Life — The  Conspiracy 
— Charge  of  Murder — Photograph  of  Johnson's  Island  Prison — Statement  of 
Soldiers  on  Duty  There  and  at  Fort  Delaware  Prison.  Pages  354-385. 

CHAPTER  XTY. 

Some  Interesting  Facts  as  to  the  Preparation  of  the  Case  for  Trial — Personnel  of 
the  Court — Proceedings  at  Close  of  the  Trial — Jurisdiction  of  the  Court  Dis 
cussed — The  Law  and  Facts  as  to  Conspiracy  Stated — Review  of  the  Record 
by  the  Judge  Advocate-General — Approval  of  the  Sentence  by  the  President — 
E*xecution  of  the  Sentence — Law  of  Nations  Systematically  Violated — Con 
ditions  Surrounding  Prisoners  Who  Were  Witnesses — Burial  of  Wirz's  Body. 
Pages  386-437. 

CHAPTER  XV. 

The  Cartel  Suspended — Exchanging  of  Prisoners  Interrupted — Causes  Therefor — 
Violation  of  Cartel  by  Rebels — Right  to  Exchange  Denied  to  Negro  Soldiers 
and  Their  Officers — When  Captured  Treated  as  Felons — Sufferings  of  Prison 
ers  Due  to  Treatment  They  Received,  not  Because  Cartel  Was  Suspended — 
Rebel  Commissioner  Robert  Ould,  Maneuvering  to  Get  Excess  of  Prisoners 
Held  by  Federals  and  Use  Them  at  Critical  Period  of  War — Action  of  Our 
Government  Fully  Vindicated — Report  of  General  Hitchcock,  Federal  Com 
missioner  of  Exchange,  Covering  Entire  Subject — Letter  of  General  Grant. 
Part  of  Which  is  Inscribed  on  the  Wirz  Monument — Interview  with  Colonel 
John  McElroy,  a  Prisoner  at  Andersonville — The  Evolution  of  Slaves  to  the 
Status  of  United  States  Soldiers — Some  Interesting  Facts  About  the  Negro 
as  a  Soldier.  Pages  438-473. 

CHAPTER   XVT. 

Andersonville  Cemetery  Made  Beautiful — Expedition  in  Spring  of  1865  to  Provide 
for  Its  Permanent  Care — Report  of  Captain  Jas.  M.  Moore,  U.  S.  A. — Impor 
tant  and  Interesting  Report  of  Clara  Barton,  Founder  of  the  Red  Cross 
Society,  to  the  American  People — Report  of  Dorence  Atwater.  Who  Kept  the 
Death  Register,  to  the  Relatives  of  the  Martyred  Dead — Interesting  Letter  of 
Superintendent  of  Cemetery — Inscriptions  on  State  Monuments — Patriotic 
Work  Done  by  Woman's  Reiief  Corps  at  Prison  Park — A  Parting  Word  with 
the  Reader  by  the  Author — Bill  Pending  in  Congress  to  Appropriate  Money  by 
Government  to  Erect  Monument  to  Confederate  Navy — Discussion  in  United 
States  Serate — Views  Expressed  in  Public  Press — Dangerous  Stet>  for  Govern 
ment  to  Thus  Give  Official  Sanction  to  Rebellion  and  Treason.  Pages  474-521. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE. 

Frontispiece — The  Author. 

Members  of  the  Court 29 

Judge  Advocates  36 

Group — Wirz  Monument,  Captain  Wirz,  Jefferson  Davis 43 

Plan  of  Stockade    56 

Prison  Grounds    57 

Map  of  Georgia 71 

Plan  of  Bakery   71 

Prison  Grounds  and  Stockade ' 113 

Scene  at  the  North  Gate — Issuing  Rations 142 

View  of  South  Gate  from  Outside 167 

Dividing  Squad  Rations  by  Numbers 167 

Prison  Relics  Gathered  by  Clara  Barton 203 

Burying  the  Dead  in  Trenches 215 

Prison  and  Surroundings,  and  Scenes  Enacted.     Sketched  by  Thomas  O'Dea, 

a   Prisoner    245 

A  Typical  Soldier — Figure  Surmounting  the  Connecticut  Monument 269 

Monument  Erected  by  Massachusetts   303 

Group  of  Views  of  Cemetery 317 

Monument  Erected  by  Michigan  329 

Indiana   337 

Wisconsin   345 

Rhode  Island 357 

New  Jersey   367 

Iowa 373 

Ohio 394 

Pennsylvania    418 

Illinois 437 

Connecticut  450 

Maine    466 

Monument  to  Lizabeth  Turner 476 

Tablet  of  Woman's  Relief  Corps  482 

Providence  Spring 484 

Group — Entrance  to  Prison  Grounds  and  to  Cemetery;  Views  within  Cemetery 

and  Photograph  of  Jas.  M.  Bryant,  Superintendent  . 494 

Johnson's  Island,  Photograph  of  Buildings   377 

Group — Members    of    Woman's    Relief    Corps;    Committee    on    Transfer    of 

Prison  Grounds  to  the  Government   500 

Group — Members  of  Woman's  Relief  Corps;   Board  of  Managers  of  Prison 

Grounds 506 

The  Empty  Sleeve 511 


LOSING  OUE  STANDAKDS. 

ONE    IS    TEMPTED   TO    ASK   OP   WHAT   USE    ARE    STANDARDS    OF    ANY 
KIND.      WHY  srarR"  TO  HAVE  ANY,  EITHKR  PRIVATE  OR  PUBLIC.  IF 
IN  A  FEW  YEARS  THEY  WILL  DISSOLVE  IN  A  FLUX  OP  GOOD  FEELING?      IF 
THERE  EVER  WAS   A  WAR  FOUGHT   ON  BEHALF   OP  DEMOCRACY,   OF   INDI 
VIDUAL  LIBERTY,  OF  SUBSTANTIAL  CHRISTIANITY,  IT  WAS  THE  AMERICAN 

CIVIL  WAR.    BOTH  SIDES  CANNOT  HAVE  BEEN  RIGHT;  NOB  is  rr  TRUE 

THAT  BOTH  WERE  READY  TO  SPILL  BLOOD  MERELY  BECAUSE  OF  A  CONSTI 
TUTIONAL  QUESTION.  TO  INSIST  NOW  THAT  TH  KKE  WAS  NO  DIFFERENCE 
IN  THE  IDEALS  AND  PURPOSES  OP  THE  TWO  FORCES  OF  1861  IS  TO  REDUCE 
HISTORY  TO  THE  PLANE  OF  THE  MOVING-PICTURE  SHOWS,  TO  MAKE  LIGHT 
OF  THE  GREATEST  SACRIFICES  EVER  OFFERED  IN  THIS  OR  ANY  COUNTRY  FOR 
PRINCIPLE  OR  PATRIOTISM.  IT  IS  TO  DECRY  THE  MEN  THAT  SAVED  THE 
UNION  IP  WE  DECLARE  THAT  THERE  WAS  ONLY  A  CHANCE  DIFFERENCE 
BETWEEN  THEIR  VIEWS  AND  THOSE  OF  THKTR  OPPONENTS,  OR  TO  ASSERT 
THAT  TIME  HAS  WIPED  OUT  AT.T.  THE  PRINCIPLES  FOR  WHICH  LINCOLN 
AND  HIS  FOLLOWERS  STOOD.  To  TAKE  SUCH  A  POSITION  IS  TO  SAY  THAT 
THERE  IS  NOTHING  STEADY  IN  OUR  POLITICAL  FIRMAMENT,  THAT  THKKK 
ARE  NO  FIXED  STARS  OF  MORALITY  BY  WHICH  HUMAN  BEINGS  MUST  STEER. 

— The  Nation,  New  York. 


PREFACE 

T}  ECENT  events,  to  which  I  shall  call  attention  in  the  opening 
chapter  of  this  volume,  imperatively  demand  the  publication  of 
the  evidence  taken  at  the  trial  of  Captain  Henry  Wirz,  the  keeper  of 
the  rebel  prison  at  Anderson ville,  Georgia,  to  place  before  the  world 
the  facts  upon  which  his  conviction  and  sentence  to  death  were  founded. 

A  monument  has  been  erected  to  his  memory,  close  by  the  scenes 
of  the  crimes  with  which  he  was  charged,  avowedly  intended  to  pro 
claim  his  innocence;  to  condemn  those  who  participated  in  his  trial; 
to  discredit  the  proceedings  themselves  as  illegal;  to  denounce  the 
witnesses  as  having  given  false  testimony;  and  to  declare  that  the 
Federal  government  was  responsible  for  the  terrible  sufferings  of  the 
Union  prisoners  at  Andersonville. 

The  erection  of  this  monument  has  opened  a  chapter  in  the 
history  of  the  Kebellion  upon  which  the  public  now  demands  that  the 
light  of  truth  be  thrown.  Happily  for  the  realization  of  this  demand, 
the  history  of  this  one  of  the  many  rebel  prisons  was  laid  bare  by 
judicial  investigation,  in  the  trial  of  Captain  Wirz,  and  that  inquest 
was  so  full,  and  the  character  of  the  proof  so  indisputable,  that  the 
faithful  historian  need  never  hesitate  in  portraying  the  sufferings  of 
Union  soldiers,  or  of  fixing  the  responsibility  where  it  rightfully 
belongs. 

Ever  since  the  inauguration  of  the  "Wirz  monument  movement,  I 
have  been  urged  to  publish  a  fuller  report  of  the  evidence  adduced  at 
the  trial  than  has  heretofore  reached  the  public,  especially  as  the  in 
scriptions  engraven  upon  the  monument  renew  the  misleading  and  un 
supported  charges  made  by  Jefferson  Davis  in  his  lifetime,  as  will 
hereinafter  appear. 


Finally,  at  the  National  Encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  at  Atlantic  City,  having  received  the  following  letter,  I 
resolved,  in  obedience  to  it,  to  undertake  the  task;  and  I  offer  this 
volume  in  vindication  of  the  verdict  rendered  in  this  remarkable  case, 
and  as  the  record  of  sufferings  such  as  no  prisoners  of  war  in  any 
civilized  country,  at  any  modern  period,  were  ever  called  upon  to 
endure : 


FORTY-FOURTH  NATIONAL  ENCAMPMENT, 

GRAND  ARMY  OF  THE  REPUBLIC, 
ATLANTIC  CITY,  NEW  JERSEY, 

September  19,  1910. 
GEN.  N.  P.  CHIPMAN, 

Sacramento,  California. 

Comrade:  In  the  passing  years  since  the  close  of  the  Civil  War  an 
endeavor  has  been  made  to  create  the  belief  in  the  public  mind  that 
Captain  Henry  Wirz,  C.  S.  A.,  commander  of  the  Andersonville  Rebel 
Prison,  who  was  tried  and  convicted  by  a  military  commission  of  which 
you  were  Judge  Advocate,  for  cruel  and  inhuman  treatment  of  Union 
prisoners,  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  was  innocent  of  the  charges 
laid  against  him,  and  suffered  an  ignominious  death  through  false  and 
exaggerated  testimony,  sacrificing  his  life  rather  than  make  a  defense 
which  would  fix  the  guilt  upon  officers  of  the  Confederacy  higher  in 
authority;  that  in  fact  there  were  no  preventable  cruelties  or  suffer 
ing  at  that  prison,  and  that  the  thirteen  thousand  Union  dead  who 
lie  in  the  Andersonville  Cemetery  perished  of  disease  and  climatic 
causes  wholly  unavoidable. 

Recently,  in  line  with  this  studied  effort  to  falsify  what  we 
believe  to  be  the  truth  of  history,  the  organization  known  as  the 
"Georgia  Division  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy" 
has  challenged  the  facts  as  they  were  recorded  in  the  trial  of  Wirz ; 
has  proclaimed  him  a  martyr,  and,  in  sight  of  the  cemetery  where 
repose  the  bodies  of  our  noble  dead,  has  erected  a  lasting  monument 
to  his  memory. 

We  deem  it  just  and  right  that  the  world  should  know  the  truth 
disclosed  at  this  important  trial,  for  the  evidence,  as  we  understand 
the  findings  of  the  court,  not  only  justified  the  verdict  against  Wirz, 
but  implicated  and  held  responsible  some  of  the  Confederate  officers 
high  in  authority,  in  the  execution  of  a  policy  which  made  a  charnel- 
house  of  the  Andersonville  Prison. 

In  justice  to  the  memory  of  the  brave  and  unhappy  Union 
soldiers  who  perished  miserably  through  the  enforcement  of  that 
inhuman  policy,  we  call  upon  you  to  place  within  the  reach  of  the 


public  the  facts  relating  to  this  trial ;  and  we  trust  that,  in  the  volume 
that  you  may  publish,  you  will  make  it  so  complete  in  its  presentation 
of  the  evidence  that  the  truth  may  be  vindicated  and  the  falsity  of 
the  inscriptions  placed  upon  the  Wirz  monument  be  made  clearly  to 
appear. 

Yours  in  F.  C.  &  L., 

HARRY  WHITE, 

Commander  of  the  National  Association  of  Union  Prisoners  of  War. 

JOSEPH  C.  KILLGORE,  President, 
ROBERT  B.  McCuLLY,  Secretary, 
National  Society  of  Andersonville  Prisoners. 

J.  H.  STIBBS, 

12th   Iowa   Infantry,   Brevet   Brigadier-General;    Member   of   Wirz 
Military  Commission. 

The  necessity  at  the  present  time  for  an  honest  statement  regard 
ing  the  Wirz  trial  seems  to  be  paramount,  and  we  believe  no  one 
more  fitted  to  perform  this  duty  than  yourself. 

Louis  WAGNER,  Past  Commander-in- Chief. 
THOS.  J.  STEWART,  Past  Commander-in- Chief. 
S.  S.  BURDETT,  Past  Commander-in-Chief. 
ROBT.  B.  BEATH,  Past  Commander-in-ChieF- 
LEO.  RASSIEURS,  Past  Commander-in-Chief. 
S.  R.  VAN  SANT,  Commander-in-Chief. 
C.  MASON  KINNE,  Past  Senior  Vice-Commander-in-Chief. 
JOHN  MCELROY,  Past  Senior  Vice-Commander-in-Chief. 
WM.  JAMES,  Junior  Vice-Commander-in-Chief  Elect. 
CHAS.  C.  ROYCE,  Past  Vice-Commander-in-Chief. 
E.  L.  HAWK,  Department  Commander,  Department  of  Cali 
fornia  and  Nevada. 


CHAPTER  I. 

MOTIVE  SHOWN  FOR  THE  PUBLICATION  OF  THE  EVIDENCE  TAKEN  AT  THE  TRIAL 
OF  WIRZ — CHARGES  MADE  BY  JEFFERSON  DAVIS  IN  1890 — THE  REVIVAL  OF 
THESE  ACCUSATIONS  BY  THE  UNITED  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY, 
IN  1905,  THAT  WIRZ  WAS  "JUDICIALLY  MURDERED"  AND  DIED  A  MARTYR  AFTER 
CONVICTION  UPON  CHARGES  OF  WHICH  HE  WAS  INNOCENT  —  ERECTION  OF 
MONUMENT  TO  WIRZ  IN  1909  AT  ANDERSONVILLE — FALSE  AND  MISLEADING  IN 
SCRIPTIONS  ON  THE  MONUMENT — PROTEST  OF  THE  GRAND  ARMY  OF  THE  RE 
PUBLIC — PROCEEDINGS  AT  NATIONAL  ENCAMPMENT  IN  1906  AT  MINNEAPOLIS — 
IMPORTANT  FEATURE  OF  TRIAL — EXPOSURE  OF  CONFEDERATE  POLICY  AND  ITS 
GUILTY  PARTICIPATION  IN  CRIME — MORE  UNION  SOLDIERS  DIED  AT  ANDERSON 
VILLE  THAN  KILLED  IN  ACTION  IN  COMBINED  BATTLES  OF  SECOND  BULL  BUN, 
ANTIETAM,  CHANCELLORVILLE,  GETTYSBURG,  AND  THE  WILDERNESS. 

TWENTY  years  ago  I  was  urged  to  write  the  story  of  the  Ander- 
sonville  Rebel  Prison,  as  disclosed  by  the  evidence  at  the  trial  of 
Captain  Henry  Wirz,  its  keeper.  It  had  seemed  to  me  that  this  was 
one  of  the  chapters  of  the  Rebellion  better  kept  closed.  As  an 
illustration  of  the  horrors  of  war  it  will  always  stand  unparalleled. 
As  furnishing  a  study  of  human  suffering  upon  a  stupendous  scale, 
and  as  showing  that  modern  civilization  has  not  mitigated  the  cruelties 
to  which  a  professedly  Christian  people  may  resort,  the  past  century 
has  exhibited  nothing  like  it.  But  even  this  seemed  not  to  justify  the 
portrayal  at  a  time  when  the  healing  processes  after  national  disrup 
tion  might,  presumably,  be  doing  their  perfect  work. 

It  was  left  for  Jefferson  Davis  to  furnish  the  motive  for  recalling 
the  true  story  of  Andersonville  and  to  induce  me  to  publish  at  that 
time  a  small  volume  in  reply  to  his  statements,  to  which  wide  publicity 
had  been  given.  Whatever  of  responsibility  there  then  was  for 
opening  this  ghastly  wound  to  bleed  afresh,  rested  upon  the  head  of 
the  late  Confederacy,  for  he  not  only  invited  reply,  but  he  imperatively 
challenged  it.  And  now  after  twenty  years  the  whole  grim  and 
gruesome  story  of  the  Andersonville  Rebel  Prison  is  revived  and  a 
fresh  challenge  thrown  down,  carrying  with  it  the  reiteration  of  the 
charges  made  by  Mr.  Davis  as  published  in  1890,  and  demanding 
their  refutation. 

Upon  leaving  the  cars  at  Andersonville,  Georgia,  the  visitor  who 
goes  to  pay  a  tribute  of  love  or  respect  to  the  memory  of  the  Union 
dead  who  lie  in  the  National  Cemetery  nearby  must  first  pass  by  an 


12  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

enduring  monument  erected  near  the  station,  to  the  memory  of  Cap 
tain  Wirz,  by  the  "Georgia  Division  of  the  United  Daughters  of  the 
Confederacy."  Some  facts  which  should  be  given  touching  the  erec 
tion  of  this  monument  will  confirm  the  opinion,  widely  expressed,- 
that  the  time  is  opportune  for  the  publication  of  the  evidence  adduced 
at  the  Wirz  trial. 

In  the  Confederate  Veteran  for  October,  1906,  published  at  Nash 
ville,  Tennessee,  is  an  article  from  which  I  quote  as  follows : 

Initial  movement  for  Wirz  monument.  Mrs.  A.  B.  Hall,  of  Savannah,  Ga.,  on 
Dec.  5th,  1905,  sent  a  greeting  to  the  Chapters  of  the  Georgia  Division,  U.  D.  C., 
and  published  the  following  proceedings:  the  resolutions  of  Mrs.  L.  G.  Young, 
of  Savannah,  read  at  the  convention  of  the  Georgia  Division,  U.  D.  C.,  held  in 
Macon,  Oct.  25,  1905,  were  as  follows: 

"Whereas,  Captain  Henry  Wirz,  commandant  of  the  stockade  prison  at  Ander- 
sonville,  Ga.,  was  judicially  murdered  under  false  charges  of  cruelty  to  prisoners; 
and  whereas,  after  an  interval  of  forty  years,  these  false  charges  are  reiterated  on 
signboards  in  public  places,  from  the  pulpit,  and  on  monuments;  therefore,  be  it 
resolved:  That  the  United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  in  Georgia  use  their 
influence  to  obtain  the  necessary  funds  to  place  a  suitable  memorial  to  Captain 
Wirz  in  Andersonville,  Ga.,  upon  which  a  statement  of  facts  shall  be  engraved  in 
enduring  brass  or  marble,  showing  that  the  Federal  government  was  solely  re 
sponsible  for  the  condition  of  affairs  at  Andersonville." 

"Committees  to  carry  out  the  resolutions  were  appointed, — on  selection  of  site, 
on  inscription,  on  designs, — and  an  advisory  board  and  a  treasurer  were  appointed." 

When  this  movement  came  to  be  generally  known,  a  universal 
protest  was  evoked  in  all  parts  of  the  North,  and  in  many  parts  of 
the  South  it  was  strongly  condemned.  The  surviving  Union  veterans 
of  the  Civil  War,  of  whom  there  still  remain  more  than  half  a  million, 
were  vehement  in  their  expressions  of  indignant  disapproval,  and,  in 
their  organized  capacity  as  members  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  they  voiced  their  feelings  with  burning  emphasis. 

Commander-in-Chief  Tanner,  at  the  National  Encampment  at 
Minneapolis,  in  August,  1906,  made  it  one  of  the  subjects  of  his 
annual  address.1  He  said: 

In  the  course  of  the  last  few  months  I  have  received  quite  a  number  of  com 
munications  concerning  the  proposition  to  erect  at  or  near  Andersonville  a  monu 
ment  in  honor  of  Captain  Wirz,  who  was  in  charge  of  Andersonville  Prison.  Most 
of  these  communications  were  appeals  addressed  to  me  as  Commander-in-Chief, 
imploring  me  to  take  steps  to  prevent  the  erection  of  such  a  monument,  urging  me, 
if  necessary  to  that  end,  to  lay  the  matter  before  Congress,  or  to  bring  it  to 
the  attention  of  the  President. 

1  Proceedings  at  Minneapolis,  1906,  p.  109. 


THE  TRIAL  OF  CAPTAIN  WIRZ.  13 

After  pointing  out  that  he  had  no  power  to  comply  with  the  re 
quest,  he  continued: 

Since  the  manuscript  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  printer  I  have  been  reliably 
informed  that  the  plot  of  ground  upon  which  to  place  the  Wirz  monument  has  been 
purchased.  The  veterans  of  the  Confederate  army  are  not  to  any  appreciable 
degree  interested.  I  first  learned  of  the  monument  early  in  the  year  and  quietly 
and  earnestly  canvassed  the  matter  with  quite  a  number  of  prominent  ex-Confed 
erates,  for  I  recognized  on  the  first  meeting  thereof  that  such  a  matter  carried 
out  would  do  more  to  interrupt  the  flow  of  good  feeling  between  the  North  and 
the  South,  and  would  roll  back  more  effectively  the  waves  of  reconciliation,  than 
any  other  one  matter  of  which  the  mind  of  man  can  conceive. 

A  good  many  of  them  [ex-Confederates]  had  no  hesitation  in  privately  telling 
me  that  they  agreed  with  me  that  the  erection  of  the  memorial  to  such  a  character 
could  have  no  practical  result  except  to  smirch  to  a  greater  or  less  degree  every 
memorial  erected  throughout  the  South  to  the  real  representatives  of  valor  in  the 
Confederate  army. 

The  subject  is  one  which  I  deprecate  extremely  the  necessity  of  calling  to  public 
attention.  It  is  a  matter  I  would  have  preferred  that  the  hallowing  effects  of  time 
might  wipe  from  the  memory  of  man;  but  under  the  circumstances,  standing 
as  I  do,  I  have  felt  it  would  be  cowardly  not  to  make  mention  of  this  matter 
as  I  have. 

The  committee  on  resolutions,  to  which  this  and  other  subjects  dealt 
upon  by  the  Commander-in-Chief  were  referred,  recommended  that 
the  matter  be  passed  over  to  the  incoming  Council  of  Administration. 
General  Ketcham,  of  Indiana,  presented  a  minority  report,  as  follows  i1 

COMMANDER  AND  COMRADES:  The  Wirz  monument  movement  is  in  the  ai*.  It 
cannot  be  overlooked  or  ignored.  Prisoners  of  War  Associations  have  passed 
resolutions  on  the  subject,  Department  Encampments  have  discussed  and  acted  on 
it,  and  the  Commander-in-Chief  has  called  the  attention  of  this  encampment  to  it. 
Under  these  circumstances  we  cannot  close  our  eyes  nor  hide  our  heads  in  the  sand 
and  say  we  know  naught  of  it.  To  pass  it  by  silently  is  to  leave  it  open  for  the 
suggestion  that  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  is  either  tacitly  acquiescing  in 
the  movement  or  fears  to  take  a  stand  in  regard  to  it. 

On  behalf,  thereof,  of  the  minority  of  your  committee,  and  in  obedience  to  the 
wishes  of  the  Department  of  Indiana  and  its  delegates  in  this  encampment,  I  beg 
leave  to  submit  the  following  memorial  and  resolution : 

"We  learn  with  deep  regret  and  profound  sorrow  of  the  intention  of  the  United 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  to  build  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Captaim 
Wirz  in  the  vicinity  of  Andersonville  National  Cemetery  and  Andersonville  Prison,, 
now  the  property  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps.  We  are  told  that  this  action  i» 
taken  by  the  ladies  in  a  spirit  of  equity;  believing  he  was  unjustly  hanged,  and 
feeling  it  just  that  the  world  should  know  the  Confederacy's  treatment  of  prisoners 
of  war  was  conducted  on  humane  principles. 


Proceedings  at  Minneapolis,   1906,  p.   182. 


14  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSON VILLE. 

"We  are  wholly  at  loss  to  perceive  how  a  supposed  spirit  of  equity  could  be 
subserved  by  seeking  to  keep  alive  the  darkest  blot  in  the  history  of  the  Rebellion. 
"Captain  Wirz  was  tried  by  a  commission  of  just  men,  of  high  character  and 
lofty  patriotism;  competent  and  capable  to  hear  and  weigh  the  evidence  and 
determine  the  law  and  the  facts.  It  had  jurisdiction  beyond  question;  its  per 
sonnel  was  of  the  highest  character;  the  trial  covered  a  period  of  nearly  two 
months,  and  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses,  some  one  hundred  and  forty  in  number, 
including  the  witnesses  called  on  his  behalf,  covered  some  five  thousand  pages  of 
written  matter,  and  a  synopsis  of  it  covers  some  six  hundred  printed  pages. 

"It  is  now  too  late  to  attempt  to  revise,  reverse,  or  discredit  the  findings  and 
judgment  of  that  commission.  Its  conclusion  will  stand  through  the  ages  as  the 
verdict  of  history. 

"We  had  hoped  in  this,  the  dawning  of  the  new  century,  when  the  bitterness  and 
animosities  of  the  century  that  is  dead  and  gone  ought  to  be  buried  in  oblivion, 
that  a  newer,  brighter,  loftier  spirit  of  patriotism  would  have  grown  in  that  sec 
tion  of  the  country  that  over  forty  years  ago  found  itself  in  armed  rebellion  against 
the  power  and  authority  of  the  nation.  Time  has  softened  if  not  effaced  the 
physical  effects  of  the  bitter  strife;  the  moral  effects,  we  regret  to  see,  largely 
remain. 

"The  intelligent  lover  of  his  country — the  whole  country — can  only  view  the 
proposed  monument  as  symbolizing  the  old  spirit  of  the  Rebellion,  and  as  com 
memorating  the  prowess  of  a  convicted  and  executed  felon,  whose  title  to  fame 
rests  upon  his  success  in  destroying  the  armies  of  his  country  by  cruel  and  barbarous 
atrocities  inflicted  upon  helpless  prisoners  committed  to  his  custody,  by  which 
thirteen  thousand  of  the  country's  defenders  were  sent  untimely  to  their  long 
homes,  and  other  thousands  suffered  beyond  the  pen  of  man  to  describe  or  the 
thoughts  of  men  to  conceive. 

"A  monument  to  him  will  represent  not  honor  but  infamy;  will  belittle  the 
meed  of  praise  bestowed  by  monuments  to  the  real  soldiers  who  accomplished  great 
deeds  in  a  great  way,  although  in  a  misguided  cause;  will  detract  from  their  just 
fame  and  glory,  and  constitute  not  only  an  affront  to  the  conscience  and  patriotism 
of  the  land  we  love,  but  a  reproach  to  the  quickened  and  enlightened  spirit  of  the 
age. 

"We  wish  to  go  on  record  in  solemn  and  deliberate  protest  against  such  a  cruel 
and  wanton  affront  to  the  ideals  represented  by  this  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
and  by  the  patriotic  citizens  of  the  nation  throughout  its  entire  length  and  breadth. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Commander-in-Chief  communicate  with  General  Stephen  E. 
Lee,  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Confederate  Veterans'  Association,  and  express 
to  him  the  hope  and  wish  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  that  the  association 
of  which  he  is  commander  would  in  such  manner  as  may  to  it  seem  proper  express 
its  disapproval  of  the  proposed  action."  Respectfully  submitted, 

WILLIAM  A.  KETCHAM, 
Of  the  minority  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 

A  comrade  asked  General  Ketcham  what  evidence  he  had  that 
these  women  intended  erecting  the  monument  or  could  build  it. 
Comrade  Ketcham  said: 


THE  TRIAL  OF  CAPTAIN  WIEZ.  15 

"I  wrote  to  Miss  Alice  Baxter,  Secretary  of  the  United  Daughters 
of  the  Confederacy,  to  know  what  the  fact  was  and  I  have  her  letter 
here  as  follows: 

Replying  to  your  letter,  I  take  pleasure  in  sending  you  the  enclosed  articles. 
These  articles  with  reference  to  the  building  of  the  monument,  the  steps  that  are 
being  taken,  the  subscriptions  that  are  being  made,  and  the  papers  that  are  being 
written  in  the  public  schools  telling  how  atrocious  was  the  conduct  of  the  Union 
officials,  and  how  humane  and  just  was  the  conduct  of  the  Confederate  officials. 
Please  return  when  you  are  through.  We  propose  erecting  the  monument  to  Captain 
Wirz  in  a  spirit  of  equity,  believing  that  the  world  should  know  that  the  Con 
federacy's  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war  was  conducted  on  humane  principles.  I 
note  you  are  a  lawyer.  Perhaps  if  you  study  both  sides  of  this  question  you  will 
come  to  see  there  are  two  sides  to  the  question.  We  were  much  pleased  with 
Corporal  Tanner  when  he  was  South.  We  do  not  desire  to  stir  up  bitterness,  but 
we  are  unwilling  for  the  South  to  remain  under  false  charges. 

Sincerely  yours, 

ALICE  BAXTER. 

Past  Department  Commander  Ketcham  supported  the  minority  re 
port  in  a  vigorous  and  eloquent  speech.  Past  Commander-in-Qhief 
Torrance  followed  in  advocacy  of  the  majority  report.  He  said : 

Do  not  let  us  open  up  Pandora's  box  of  evils.  Let  us  quietly  suffer  the  indig 
nity,  if  it  is  an  indignity.  And  what  will  the  monument  be  when  erected?  When 
you  present  yourself  before  a  monument  the  question  arises,  What  is  it,  and  in 
whose  honor  is  it  erected?  When  you  come  in  front  of  the  Wirz  monument  it 
will  not  be  to  a  soldier,  not  to  a  man  who  gained  distinction  on  the  battlefield,  but 
one  whose  only  claim  to  recognition  is  that  he  was  hanged  as  a  murderer,  just  as  a 
thousand  of  other  criminals  have  been  hanged  in  this  country.  And  I  will  tell  you, 
my  comrades,  that  neither  the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  nor  the  men  of  the 
•Confederacy,  nor  the  men  nor  the  women  of  the  North  and  South,  nor  all  com 
bined,  can  erect  a  monument  in  memory  of  any  one  that  will  live  an  hour  unless 
the  monument  rests  upon  a  noble  life  and  represents  a  living  truth  and  principle. 

Commander-in-Chief  Tanner  then  took  the  floor  and,  among  other 
things,  said: 

My  good  friend  Torrance  has  just  said  that  the  best  thing  to  do  is  to  keep 
silence.  If  we  keep  silent  we  will  be  with  the  comrades  who  were  murdered  in 
Andersonville.  They  are  silent;  they  have  been  silent  all  these  years.  Before  my 
mind's  eye  to-day  there  comes  a  picture  of  the  horrors  of  that  awful  time,  when 
they  stripped  the  dead  and  chucked  their  corpses  in  wagons  and  dragged  them 
out  and  chucked  them  in  a  ditch,  and  there  comes  to  me  an  hour  when  I  walked 
the  wards  at  Annapolis  going  up  and  down  looking  for  comrades  of  my  own  regi 
ment,  and  behind  me  came  my  name  in  a  faint  voice.  I  looked  about  me  and 
none  of  the  emaciated  faces  could  I  recognize.  I  turned  back  to  the  third  bed 
.-and  said,  My  poor  fellow  did  I  ever  know  you?  With  a  sob  in  the  throat  he 


16  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

answered.  Don't  you  know  Billy  Moore?  He  was  one  of  the  stalwart  men  of  my 
own  company.  The  mother  of  the  boy  would  not  have  recognized  him.  You  can 
all  recall  such  instances  as  that. 

To  get  down  to  the  concrete  matter  here,  I  did  know  last  January  that  this 
thing  was  being  talked  of.  When  I  went  South  in  March  to  attend  Joe  Wheeler's 
funeral  at  Atlanta  every  moment  that  I  could  spare  I  was  conferring  with  Con 
federates  of  high  and  low  degree.  Not  one  had  a  word  in  favor  of  the  monu 
ment.  It  is  the  women — and  we  cannot  get  into  a  warfare  with  women;  but  we 
can  stand  up  for  conscience  and  right,  if  we  are  men,  without  getting  into  a  war 
fare  with  women.  Finally,  last  night,  or  this  morning  at  one  o'clock,  it  came  to 
this,  that  those  who  feel  as  I  do  would  voice  this  matter  in  a  dignified  appeal  from 
the  Grand  Army  of  the  Kepublic,  that  appeal  to  be  prepared  by  your  incoming 
Commander-in-Chief  and  such  as  he  may  see  fit  to  call  to  his  aid,  that  appeal  to  be 
addressed  to  that  splendid  gentleman  Stephen  D.  Lee,  one  of  the  few  surviving 
lieutenant-generals  of  the  Confederate  army,  the  present  chief  of  the  Confederate 
Veterans,  and  with  that  an  appeal  to  him  to  use  his  influence  to  prevent  this  out 
rage  from  being  perpetrated.  I  came  into  this  encampment  to-day  caring  not 
what  was  done  so  that  it  might  be  done  dignifiedly  and  be  true  to  the  truth  of 
history,  but  if  you  take  no  action  then  I  tell  you  that  your  silence  will  be  seized 
upon,  and  in  every  chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  it  will  be  said  that 
you  felt  that  you  could  not  consistently  protest  and  that  you  were  afraid  to  meet 
the  issue  that  they  raised.  I  say  that  my  friend  the  distinguished  attorney-general 
of  Indiana  never  put  more  strength  and  conservatism  in  any  document  in  all  his 
brilliant  career  than  when  he  appeared  before  you  with  that  memorial  culminating 
as  it  did  in  a  plain,  simple,  dignified  resolution  asking  of  the  Commander-in-Chief 
of  the  Confederate  Veterans,  on  the  part  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Kepublic,  that 
he  use  his  influence  to  prevent  the  erection  of  the  monument.  It  is  no  time  to  keep 
silent.  It  is  time  to  speak  out  man-fashion  in  a  dignified  way,  and  let  the  country 
know  that  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Eepublic  makes  its  dignified  protest  against  the 
exaltation  of  the  man  who  sent  to  horrible  death  so  many  of  our  comrades  and 
who  caused  such  inexpressible  anguish  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  of  the  North. 
With  all  my  heart  and  soul  I  second  the  resolution  offered  by  Comrade  Ketcham. 

On  motion  the  previous  question  was  ordered,  and,  the  main  ques 
tion  being  put,  the  minority  report  and  resolution  were  adopted. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  opinion  of  individual  ex-Confeder 
ate  soldiers  or  individual  citizens  of  the  South,  it  is  quite  certain  that 
no  serious  effort  was  made  to  prevent  the  erection  of  this  monument 
with  all  that  was  proclaimed  in  its  justification  and  with  all  its  false 
implications. 

In  reviewing  the  matter  in  an  extended  article,  the  Confederate 
Veteran  concludes: 

The  purpose  of  this  article  is  not  to  antagonize  our  friends,  the  enemy.  Indeed, 
it  is  not  to  condemn  them,  as  from  their  point  of  view  many  of  them  honestly 
think  such  a  monument  should  not  be  erected;  but  the  opportunity  by  these  issue* 


THE  TEIAL  OF  CAPTAIN  WIEZ.  17 

is  improved  to  make  fresh  record  of  the  deeds  of  that  ill-fated  Confederate  officer. 
As  Americans  honor  the  French  officer  Lafayette,  the  Southern  people  should  ever 
specifically  honor  the  name  of  Captain  Henry  Wirz.  Our  Grand  Army  friends  are 
not  so  bad  as  many  believe  them  to  be.  Men  here  actually  opposed  the  Wirz  mon 
ument  movement  through  a  misconception  of  the  facts.  ...  I  am  attempting  the 
delicate  and  difficult  task  of  rescuing  a  wronged  man's  memory.  They  never  fail 
who  die  in  a  great  cause.  Let  the  monument  be  built." 

On  the  title  page  of  this  magazine  is  printed  the  following:  "Offi 
cially  represents :  United  Confederate  Veterans ;  United  Daughters  of 
the  Confederacy;  Sons  of  Veterans  and  other  organizations;  Confed 
erate  Brethren  Memorial  Association.  The  Veteran  is  approved  and 
indorsed  by  a  larger  and  more  elevated  patronage  than  any  other  pub 
lication  in  existence." 

If  it  be  true,  as  Miss  Baxter  wrote  as  late  as  in  1905,  that  papers 
were  being  written  in'  the  public  schools  telling  "how  atrocious  was 
the  conduct  of  the  Union  officials,  and  how  humane  and  just  was  the 
conduct  of  the  Confederate  officials,"  and  if  the  Confederate  Veteran, 
with  its  large  and  "elevated  patronage,"  in  advocating  the  erection 
of  this  monument,  expressed  a  widespread  sentiment,  can  there  be 
any  doubt  that  behind  the  movement  was  the  purpose  to  revive  and 
reassert  the  charges  which  Mr.  Davis,  among  the  last  acts  of  his  life, 
defiantly  published  to  the  world  ?  Can  it  be  wondered  at  that  there  is 
a  fresh  demand  for  the  means  of  obtaining  the  evidence  upon  which  he 
was  found  guilty  of  conspiracy  with  Wirz  in  the  commission  of  the 
awful  crime  for  which  Wirz  suffered? 

Is  the  revered  name  of  Lafayette  to  have  no  higher  place  in  the 
hearts  of  the  Southern  people  than  the  name  of  Wirz?  Are  the  por 
traits  of  the  noble  Marquis  and  Captain  Wirz  to  hang  side  by  side 
equally  honored  in  Southern  homes? 

Past  Commander-in-Chief  Torrance  gave  expression  to  a  commend 
able  sentiment,  when  he  said  that  the  men  and  women  of  the  North 
and  South  combined  can  never  "erect  a  monument  in  memory  of 
any  one  that  will  live  an  hour  unless  the  monument  rests  upon  a  noble 
life  and  represents  a  living  truth  and  principle/' 

It  has  never  been  claimed,  and  never  will  be  claimed,  by  the 
authors  of  the  Wirz  monument  that  it  "rests  upon  a  noble  life"  or 
that  it  "represents  a  living  truth  or  principle."  Captain  Wirz  was 
not  a  citizen  of  Georgia;  he  had  no  military  record  of  consequence; 
his  residence  in  Andersonville  was  that  of  a  soldier  in  camp  for  the 
time  only;  he  did  not  fall  in  honorable  battle. 


18  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

Witnesses  at  his  trial  testified  that  he  boasted  that  he  was  destroy 
ing  more  '  *  Yankee  soldiers  than  General  Lee  was  killing  in  the  Wilder 
ness";  and  it  is  true  that  under  his  ministration  more  prisoners  were 
killed,  through  causes  into  which  we  are  now  to  inquire,  than  were 
killed  in  action  in  the  Union  ranks  in  the  combined  battles  of  the 
Second  Bull  Run,  Antietam,  Chancellorsville,  Gettysburg,  the  Wilder 
ness,  and  Appomattox.  What,  then,  was  the  motive,  what  the  true 
significance,  of  this  shaft  erected  at  that  particular  place  ? 

The  services  which  the  monument  was  meant  to  signalize,  and  for 
which  Wirz  was  to  be  immortalized,  were  performed  at  Andersonville, 
but  their  commemoration  at  that  place  has  a  deeper  meaning.  The 
Wirz  shaft  was  to  be  a  perpetual  interrogation — "Why  this  awful 
slaughter?"  To  which  the  inscriptions  give  answer:  That  the 
Federal  government  was  alone  responsible;  that  Wirz  was  falsely 
accused,  illegally  tried,  and  condemned  upon  charges  of  which  he  and 
the  Confederate  government  were  alike  innocent  and  that — "To  res 
cue  his  name  from  the  stigma  attached  to  it  by  embittered  prejudice 
this  shaft  is  erected  by  the  Georgia  Division  of  the  Daughters  of  the 
Confederacy." 

The  most  important  feature  of  the  record  of  this  trial,  however, 
is  its  exposure  of  the  policy  of  the  Confederate  government  and  its 
guilty  participation  in  the  crime  of  Andersonville.  And  it  is  this 
fact  that  will  always  attach  historic  value  to  the  evidence  taken  at 
this  remarkable  trial,  which  it  is  now  proposed  to  lay  before  the 
world. 

INSCRIPTIONS    ON    WIRZ    MONUMENT. 

The  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  originally  formulated  inscriptions  to  go  on  the  Wirz 
monument  in  somewhat  different  and  more  offensive  form  than  finally  adopted,  as  will  appear 
from  their  proceedings  already  quoted.  The  terms  "judicially  murdered"  were  eliminated 
and  one  or  two  other  changes  made,  but  the  true  purpose  and  meaning  of  the  challenge  are 
in  no  substantial  sense  modified. 

NORTH    SIDE. 

"When  time  shall  have  softened  passion  and  prejudice,  when  Reason  shall  have  stripped  the 
mask  from  misrepresentation,  then  Justice,  holding  evenly  her  scales,  will  require  much  of 
past  censure  and  praise  to  change  places. — Jefferson  Davis,  December,  1888." 

SOUTH  SIDE. 

"Discharging  his  duty  with  such  humanity  as  the  harsh  circumstances  of  the  times,  and  the 
policy  of  the  foe  admitted,  Captain  Wirz  became  at  last  the  victim  of  a  misdirected  popular 
clamor.  He  was  arrested  in  time  of  peace  while  under  the  protection  of  parole,  tried  by  a 
military  commission  of  a  service  to  which  he  did  not  belong,  and  condemned  to  ignominious 
death  on  charges  of  excessive  cruelty  to  federal  prisoners.  He  indignantly  spurned  a  pardon 
proffered  on  condition  that  he  would  incriminate  President  Davis  and  thus  exonerate  himself 
from  charges  of  which  both  were  innocent." 

EAST    SIDE. 

"In  memory  of  Captain  Henry  Wirz,  C.  S.  A.  Born  Zurich,  Switzerland,  1822.  Sentenced 
to  death  and  executed  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  November  10,  1865.  To  rescue  his  name  from 
the  stigma  attached  to  it  by  embittered  prejudice  this  shaft  is  erected  by  the  Georgia  Division, 
United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy." 

WEST    SIDE. 

"It  is  hard  on  our  men  held  in  Southern  prisons  not  to  exchange  them,  but  it  is  humanity 
to  those  left  in  the  ranks  to  fight  our  battles.  At  this  particular  time  to  release  all  rebel 
prisoners  would  insure  Sherman's  defeat  and  would  compromise  our  safety  here. — Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  August  18,  1864." 


CHAPTER  II. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AND  ANDERSONVILLE — His  PUBLISHED  ARTICLE  BRIEFLY  OUT 
LINED  AND  ITS  SPECIFIC  CHARGES  NOTED  AND  EXAMINED — SOME  GROSS  MIS- 
STATEMENTS  CORRECTED — His  ACCUSATIONS  REVIVED  AND  REASSERTED  BY 
THE  UNITED  DAUGHTERS  OF  THE  CONFEDERACY  BY  INSCRIPTIONS  ON  THE  WIRZ 
MONUMENT — ISSUES  OF  Wmz's  DEFENDERS  AND  CONFEDERACY  CLEARLY  DE 
FINED — CHARGE  EEFUTED  THAT  FEDERAL  GOVERNMENT  RESPONSIBLE  FOR 
DEATHS. 

IN  Belford's  Magazine  for  January  and  February,  1890,  are  two 
articles  contributed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis,  entitled  "Andersonville 
and  Other  War  Prisons."  In  the  opening  article  Mr.  Davis  says: 
"Some  eminent  citizens  of  the  North,  who  are  furthest  removed  from 
the  class  known  as  Southern  sympathizers  during  the  war  between 
the  States,  but  who  desire  to  know  the  whole  truth,  have  requested  me 
to  write  an  article,  to  appear  in  some  periodical  published  in  the 
North,  on  the  subject  of  the  prison  at  Andersonville,  Ga.  The  invita 
tion  is  accepted,  both  as  to  the  subject  and  place  of  publication,  from 
the  wish  to  vindicate  the  conduct  of  the  Confederacy,  and  because  the 
proposed  channel  is  that  which  will  most  assuredly  reach  those  who 
have  generally  seen  but  one  side  of  the  discussion."1 

The  history  of  Mr.  Davis's  article  is  not  without  interest.  It  was 
originally  prepared  for  the  North  American  Review,  through  the 
urgent  request  of  Mr.  Charles  Redpath,  who,  as  the  managing  editor  of 
that  periodical,  visited  Mr.  Davis.  Mr.  Allen  Thorndike  Rice,  the 
editor,  whose  death  occurred  soon  thereafter,  from  political  motives 
postponed  the  publication.  Meanwhile  the  Review  had  published  an 
article  by  Lord  Wolseley  reflecting  somewhat  upon  Mr.  Davis,  and  the 
latter  was  asked  by  Mr.  Rice's  successor  to  reply.  This  he  did,  but  his 
contribution  was  severely  pruned  by  the  editor,  which  so  incensed 
Mr.  Davis  that  he  withdrew  his  article  on  Andersonville,  and  among 
one  of  the  last  acts  of  his  life,  turned  it  over  to  Belford's  for  publica 
tion.  The  article  must  therefore  be  considered  as  premeditated ;  it  had 
been  under  examination  for  over  a  year,  and  finally  went  before  the 
public,  by  Mr.  Davis's  request,  without  alteration  or  abridgment,  and 
as  a  last  message  in  defense  of  his  beloved  Confederacy. 

1  Belford's  Magazine,  January,  1890. 


20  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

Mr.  Davis 's  long  public  service,  his  high  position  in  the  Confeder 
acy,  his  intimate  knowledge  of  all  its  movements  as  the  head  of  the 
Rebellion,  his  generally  conceded  character  for  honesty  and  integrity 
gain  for  his  statements  of  fact  prima  facie  acceptance  in  the  minds  of 
many.  I  think,  however,  that  before  the  unprejudiced  reader  has 
reached  the  final  chapter  of  this  book  he  will  have  concluded  that 
neither  Mr.  Davis 's  statements  nor  his  method  of  dealing  with  this 
grave  matter  can  be  received  as  at  all  satisfactory  or  reliable. 

He  first  charges  that  Andersonville  became  necessary  as  a  prison 
because  of  the  Federal  violation  of  the  cartel  for  the  exchange  and 
parole  of  prisoners.  But  the  admitted  failure  or  refusal  of  the  Federal 
authorities  to  observe  the  cartel  furnishes  no  justification  for  cruel 
and  unusual  treatment  and  starvation  of  prisoners  in  his  power.  If, 
as  he  claims,  the  prisons  at  Richmond  had  become  so  overcrowded  as 
to  make  the  stockade  at  Andersonville  a  necessity,  or  if  after  its  estab 
lishment  the  number  greatly  exceeded  any  possibility  of  adequate  or 
humane  care,  still  its  enlargement  was  but  the  obvious  demand  of 
humanity,  and  should  have  been  made.  Mr.  Davis  characterizes  it  as 
''offensive"  to  make  inquiry  why  this  overcrowding  was  not  provided 
against  and  he  scorns  to  make  answer. 

We  shall  see,  as  we  progress  with  the  evidence,  how  simple  a  mat 
ter  this  expedient  would  have  been ;  how  ready  and  willing  hands 
besought  and  were  refused  the  privilege  of  enlarging  the  boundaries 
of  their  prison  pen  and  relieving  its  congestion. 

The  alleged  violation  of  the  cartel  is  wholly  irrelevant  as  a  defense 
for  violating  the  usages  of  civilized  warfare.  It  was  so  decided  by  the 
military  court  which  tried  Wirz,  and  all  writers  on  civil  or  military 
law  support  that  decision.  There  is,  however,  a  full  and  satisfactory 
defense  of  the  Federal  action  in  this  matter  which  will  be  made  the 
subject  of  a  chapter  of  this  volume,  but  in  no  event  can  it  be  allowed 
that  the  fact  that  Mr.  Davis  had  more  prisoners  than  he  wished  to  feed 
relieved  him  from  the  duty  of  feeding  them. 

He  informs  us  that  Andersonville,  Ga.,  was  selected  after  careful 
investigation  for  the  following  reasons :  "  It  was  in  the  high  pine  wood 
region ;  in  a  productive  farming  country,  and  had  never  been  devastated 
by  the  enemy;  was  well  watered,  was  near  Americus,  a  central  depot 
for  collecting  the  tax  in  kind  and  purchasing  provisions  for  the 
armies."  x  Much  evidence  was  adduced  at  the  trial  of  Wirz,  as  we  shall 
see,  confirming  the  very  important  fact  here  admitted,  for  it  bore 

1  Bel  ford  Magazine,  January,  1890. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AND  ANDEESONVILLE.  21 

directly  upon  the  issue  whether  short  rations  resulted  from  any 
scarcity  or  physical  inability  to  supply  sufficient  food.  Mr.  Davis 
seems  to  have  assumed  that  because  an  abundance  of  food  was  avail 
able  it  must  logically  follow  that  it  was  furnished  to  the  prisoners, 
properly  prepared  for  consumption  and  in  proper  quantities.  But 
here  was  the  very  issue  being  tried.  In  this  high  pine  wooded  region 
prisoners  perished  for  lack  of  shelter  and  fuel;  in  this  productive 
farming  country  they  wasted  away  to  skeletons  and  died  of  starvation ; 
in  this  well  watered  region  was  enacted  the  tragedy  of  the  Ancient 
Mariner : 

"Water,  water,  everywhere, 
Nor  any  drop  to  drink." 

Having  satisfied  his  conscience  with  the  statement  that  food,  fuel, 
water,  and  pure  air  abounded,  he  adds :  "It  was  not  starvation,  as  has 
been  alleged,  -but  acclimation,  unsuitable  diet  and  despondency  which 
were  the  potent  agents  of  disease  and  death.  These  it  was  not  in  our 
power  to  remove.  The  remedy  demanded  alike  of  humanity  and  good 
faith  was  the  honest  execution  of  the  cartel." 

Mr.  Davis  seems  to  have  been  obsessed  with  the  idea  that  the 
cartel  was  the  cause  of  all  this  suffering.  Is  it  true  that  these  potent 
agencies  of  disease  and  death  were  beyond  his  power  to  remove  ?  Let 
me  not  anticipate  too  much  the  proofs  that  are  to  be  marshalled  in 
proper  sequence,  from  the  lips  of  eye-witnesses,  many  of  them  having 
been  in  the  rebel  service.  We  shall  see  as  we  advance  whether  the 
cartel  or  starvation  was  the  more  potent  agent  of  disease  and  death 
at  that  fateful  place;  whether  it  is  conceivable  that  the  failure  to 
exchange  prisoners,  in  the  face  of  the  terms  demanded  by  the  rebel 
government,  can  acquit  that  government  of  its  culpability  in  the 
treatment  of  prisoners;  and  whether  it  was  not  in  the  power  of  the 
Confederacy  to  have  properly  fed  and  cared  for  these  brave  men. 
These  were  all  matters  of  legitimate  inquiry  at  the  trial,  and  it  is  my 
purpose  to  make  known  the  evidence,  that  the  world  may  judge 
between  unsupported  statements  and  conclusions  and  the  sworn  testi 
mony  of  the  witnesses  of  the  harrowing  scenes  in  this  tragic  chapter  of 
the  Civil  War. 

If  human  testimony,  subjected  to  all  the  tests  of  its  credibility 
known  to  the  law,  can  be  believed,  there  will  be  laid  before  the  reader 
such  an  array  of  proofs  as  to  place  beyond  the  realm  of  reasonable 
doubt  that  not  less  than  seventy-five  per  cent  of  the  thirteen  thousand 


22  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

who  perished  at  Andersonville  and  the  two  thousand  who  died  on  their 
way  to  their  homes  or  shortly  after  reaching  them,  died  from  the 
effects  of  starvation  and  other  preventable  causes — chiefly,  however, 
from  simple  undoubted  starvation,  or  causes  directly  induced  thereby. 

To  show  the  nature  and  character  of  the  alleged  facts  assumed 
to  have  come  to  the  surface  since  the  trial,  and  upon  which  rest  the 
conclusions  to  which  Mr.  Davis  would  lead  his  reader,  something 
should  be  said.  As  an  example,  he  quotes  from  an  anonymous  letter 
published  in  the  New  York  News  of  August  5,  1865,  and  to  give  it 
weight  he  attributes  the  authorship  to  an  officer  on  General  Sheridan 's 
staff.  This  writer  was  one  Martin  S.  Harris,  private  of  the  5th  New 
York  Artillery,  and  never  had  any  relations  with  Sheridan.  He  was 
a  witness  for  the  defense  at  the  trial  and  testified  at  great  length.  His 
testimony  will  be  noticed  in  its  proper  place. 

Mr.  Davis  speaks  of  Wirz  as  the  unhappy  victim  of  a  misdirected 
popular  clamor,  and  says  he  was  denied  the  favorable  testimony  of 
those  who  came  as  witnesses  in  his  behalf,  and  "died  a  martyr  to  a 
cause  through  adherence  to  truth."  He  cites  as  an  instance  of  the 
unfairness  of  the  trial  the  case  of  the  Eev.  Father  Peter  Whelan, 
who  was  a  witness  for  the  prisoner.  He  quotes  this  gentleman  as 
saying  that,  upon  reporting  at  Washington,  the  Judge  Advocate  of  the 
court  found  out  what  he  knew  and  dismissed  him  without  allowing 
the  prisoner  to  call  him  as  a  witness.  So  glaring  a  perversion  of  fact 
as  Mr.  Davis  is  here  guilty  of  should  excite  grave  doubt  as  to  his 
veracity  in  other  particulars,  and  shows  with  what  reckless  abandon 
Mr.  Davis  came  to  the  defense  of  Andersonville.  The  fact  is  that 
Father  Whelan  was  called  by  the  defense  and  testified  at  great  length.1 
His  testimony  will  not  be  overlooked  in  subsequent  pages. 

Mr.  Davis  quotes  from  General  Imboden,  as  showing  "that  after 
the  bulk  of  the  prisoners  were  removed,  leaving  in  the  fall  of  1864 
about  five  thousand,  who  could  not  bear  transportation,  by  renovation 
of  the  post  the  premises  were  much  improved ;  that  at  one  time  it  was 
thought  by  the  medical  officer  nearly  all  the  sick  would  die,  but  by 
the  use  of  vegetables  in  such  quantities  as  could  be  procured  and  an 
acid  beer  made  from  corn  meal  and  sorghum  molasses,  the  death  rate 
fell  from  about  three  thousand  in  August  to  one  hundred  and  sixty 
for  the  month  of  December. ' '  The  inquirer  after  the  truth  in  reading 
this  paragraph  could  not  fail  to  conclude  that  the  physical  condition* 

1  Record,  p.  426. 


JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AND  ANDEESONVILLE.  23 

of  these  five  thousand  unfortunates  must  have  been  low  indeed  if  they 
could  not  stand  the  fatigue  of  being  moved  in  cars,  and  that  the  con 
dition  of  the  sick  was  such  as  to  indicate  their  speedy  death.  Appar 
ently  some  were  sick  unto  death  and  the  remainder  were  too  sick  to 
bear  transportation — i.  e.  all  were  grievously  sick,  but  impending  death 
did  not  threaten  all.  But  mark  how  adroitly  this  report  of  General 
Imboden  is  woven  into  the  defense — "the  death  rate  fell  from  three 
thousand  in  August  to  one  hundred  and  sixty  in  December."  Why? 
Because  resort  was  had  to  a  very  simple  expedient.  But  in  August 
there  were  over  thirty-two  thousand  prisoners  in  that  same  enclosure, 
while  in  December  there  were  about  five  thousand.  In  August  the 
country  abounded  in  vegetables  of  all  kinds;  corn  meal  and  sorghum 
molasses  were  equally  available  from  which  to  make  acid  beer. 
We  shall  see  how  insistent  was  the  demand  for  resort  to  the  simple 
means  used  by  General  Imboden  to  preserve  these  precious  lives.  Mr. 
Davis  nowhere  suggests  that  acid  beer  and  vegetables  could  not  be 
had  in  August.  The  evidence  is  full  and  conclusive  on  the  point.  It 
may  not  be  doubted  that  to  this  humane  officer  many  of  the  hapless 
prisoners  owe  their  lives.  But  what  shall  be  said  of  the  policy  pursued 
previous  to  December  and  of  those  responsible  for  its  execution  ? 

Colonel  Robert  Ould,  Confederate  Commissioner  of  Exchange,  is 
quoted  by  Mr.  Davis  as  having  said  that  he  was  subpoenaed  for  the 
defense,  but  that  the  prisoner  was  denied  the  privilege  of  calling  him. 
Here  is  told  but  a  half  truth,  manifestly  as  a  reflection  on  the  fairness 
of  the  trial.  Colonel  Ould  was  subpoenaed  by  the  defense  to  testify  to 
matters  relating  to  the  exchange  of  prisoners.  After  discussion,  upon 
the  objection  of  the  Judge  Advocate,  the  court  held  the  testimony  to 
be  irrelevant,  and  Colonel  Ould  was  discharged  by  request  of  counsel 
for  the  prisoner. 

Perhaps  the  most  glaring  departure  from  the  truth  to  be  found 
in  Mr.  Davis's  article  is  the  statement,  based  upon  what  Mr.  Davis 
understood  Colonel  E.  H.  Chilton  to  have  written,  that  Colonel  D.  H. 
Chandler,  assistant  adjutant-general  and  inspector-general  of  the  Con 
federate  army,  testified  to  the  single  fact  that  his  report  was  never  seen 
by  Mr.  Davis,  and  that  this  officer  was  asked  no  other  question.  Col 
onel  Chandler's  report,  made  August  5,  1864,  will  be  laid  before  the 
reader.  His  oral  testimony  will  also  be  given,  showing  a  condition  at 
the  prison  which  he  reported  to  the  secretary  of  war,  Mr.  Seddon,  to 
be  a  "disgrace  to  the  Confederacy."  Evidence  will  be  given  from 
which  the  court  was  fully  justified  in  finding  that  this  report  was 


24  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

traced  to  Mr.  Davis,  and  from  which  the  inference  was  plainly  deduc- 
ible  that  the  rebel  authorities  at  Richmond  supinely  ignored  Colonel 
Chandler's  recommendations  and  permitted  the  shocking  slaughter  of 
innocent  men  to  proceed — at  that  time  dying  at  the  rate  of  over  one 
hundred  per  day. 

Mr.  Davis  closes  his  first  article  by  the  remarkable  charge,  based 
upon  a  letter  received  by  him  from  a  fellow-prisoner  of  Wirz,  that  a 
night  or  two  before  his  execution  three  men  came  to  Wirz's  cell  and 
had  some  conversation  with  him;  that  Wirz  told  his  fellow-prisoner, 
after  the  visitors  had  departed,  that  they  offered  him  his  liberty  if  he 
would  testify  against  Mr.  Davis.  This  instance  has  no  especial  bearing 
upon  the  justness  of  the  verdict  of  the  Wirz  trial.  The  story  has 
grown  into  historical  proportions  by  its  iteration  and  reiteration,  and 
was  finally  adopted  by  the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  as  one  of  the 
inscriptions  to  be  placed  on  the  Wirz  monument.  If  it  found  credence 
sufficient  to  warrant  its  so  bold  use,  it  must  mean  that  Wirz  preferred 
death  to  committing  a  breach  of  fidelity  to  his  chief,  and  thus  showed 
himself  a  brave  and  worthy  subordinate  if  not  an  innocent  man.  This 
story,  coming  from  an  unnamed  and  unknown  fellow-prisoner  of  Wirz, 
itself  based  upon  a  statement  of  Wirz,  the  United  Daughters  of  the 
Confederacy  have  engraved  upon  the  Wirz  monument  in  the  follow 
ing  form : 

"He  indignantly  spurned  a  pardon  proffered  him  on  condition 
that  he  would  incriminate  President  Davis  and  thus  exonerate  himself 
from  charges  of  which  both  were  innocent." 

But  history  is  not  made  of  such  unsubstantial  figments  of  the 
imagination  as  came  secondhand  to  Mr.  Davis  in  this  unconfirmed  and 
anonymous  manner.  In  truth,  the  government  needed  the  support  of 
no  such  witness  as  Wirz  would  have  been.  No  human  being,  under 
the  circumstances  surrounding  him,  would  have  believed  Wirz's  testi 
mony.  Besides  no  such  confession  wras  necessary.  Wirz  had  claimed 
at  his  trial  that  he  was  obeying  the  orders  of  his  superiors,  and  that  the 
Richmond  authorities  were  responsible  and  not  he,  as  will  appear  in 
the  course  of  this  volume.  It  is  unbelievable  that  so  dastardly  a 
proposition  came  from  Federal  authority,  and  it  finds  place  in  this 
publication  only  because  it  apparently  has  some  believers  and  because 
Mr.  Davis  had  the  audacity  to  give  it  currency  by  his  public  indorse 
ment.  Mr.  Davis  was  himself  a  prisoner  at  Fortress  Monroe  at  that 
time.  He  was  not  being  held  as  a  murderer  or  common  malefactor.  The 
crime  with  which  he  was  to  have  been  tried  was  high  treason,  as 


JEFFEESON  DAVIS  AND  ANDEESONVILLE.  25 

defined  by  the  Constitution,  and  not  for  specific  incidents  occurring 
during  the  war,  however  much  he  might  be  responsible  for  them.  And 
he  was  finally  so  indicted  but  never  tried. 

Not  to  overlook  the  single  remaining  item  to  which  Mr.  Davis  de 
voted  his  attention  in  his  first  Belford  article,1  he  makes  passing  men 
tion  of  the  charges  that  bloodhounds  were  used  to  capture  prisoners, 
but  dismissed  the  subject  with  a  mere  statement  that  "he  had  been 
informed  that  some  fox  and  deer  hounds  were  used  to  track  prisoners, 
and  that  no  bloodhounds  were  used."  The  evidence  will  be  given  upon 
this  point,  and  it  will  show  that  ferocious  dogs  were  employed  and 
were  the  means  of  several  deaths.  This  pack  of  dogs  was  part  of  the 
force  under  Wirz's  direction,  and  was  in  charge  of  an  enlisted  man  by 
the  name  of  Wesley  W.  Turner.  We  shall  hear  much  of  these  dogs 
and  the  part  they  played  in  the  Andersonville  horror. 

I  have  thus  sketched  the  points  made  by  Mr.  Davis  on  the  general 
subject  of  the  treatment  of  prisoners;  also,  the  data  on  which  he 
would  have  the  public  rely  in  reaching  its  conclusions.  The  true  facts 
are  to  follow  as  narrated  by  witnesses  subject  to  the  pains  and  penal 
ties  of  perjury,  and  in  part  from  unimpeachable  official  reports  of 
rebel  officers  and  agents,  recounted  under  circumstances  and  at  a  time 
when,  if  there  was  a  motive  to  color  the  record,  it  was  a  motive  to 
minimize  rather  than  exaggerate  what  they  saw  and  wrote  down. 

Mr.  Davis's  second  article  2  is  exclusively  devoted  to  the  cartel  of 
which  I  have  already  spoken  and  will  be  given  consideration  in  a 
chapter  on  that  subject,  although  it  formed  no  part  of  the  case  for  or 
against  Wirz.  So  great  stress,  however,  has  been  laid  on  its  alleged 
violation  by  the  Federal  authorities,  as  the  chief  cause  of  the  suffering 
of  our  soldiers,  that  it  must  not  be  ignored.  One  of  the  inscriptions 
on  the  Wirz  monument  reads: 

"It  is  hard  on  our  men  held  in  Southern  prisons  not  to  exchange 
them,  but  it  is  humanity  to  those  left  in  the  ranks  to  fight  our  battles. 
At  this  particular  time  to  release  all  rebel  prisoners  would  insure 
Sherman's  defeat  and  would  compromise  our  safety  here. — Ulysses  S. 
Grant,  Aug.  18,  1864." 

This  unexplained  statement  confronts  every  visitor  at  Ander 
sonville,  and  the  plain  implication  is  that  when  he  enters  the  National 
Cemetery  his  eyes  are  to  behold  the  resting  place  of  thirteen  thousand 


1  Bel  ford's  Magazine,  January,   1890. 

2  Belford' 's  Magazine,  February,   1890. 


26  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEBSONVILLE. 

Union  soldiers  who  perished  through  the  neglect  of  their  government, 
and  who  could  have  been  saved  only,  as  Mr.  Davis  charged,  by  "an 
honest  execution  of  the  cartel." 

Can  we  marvel  at  the  indignation  aroused  among  the  victorious 
men  who  followed  Grant  from  Belmont  and  Fort  Donelson  to  Appo- 
mattox,  when  they  see  emblazoned  on  the  Wirz  shaft  this  atrocious 
perversion  of  history — this  impeachment  of  the  honor  of  a  great  name 
and  the  wisdom,  justice,  and  humanity  of  a  great  nation  ? 

With  the  issues  thus  clearly  defined  by  the  defenders  of  "Wirz  and 
the  Confederacy,  we  now  approach  the  blackest  page  anywhere  to  be 
found  in  the  annals  of  war  among  civilized  nations  in  recent  times — 
a  page,  too,  written  amid  internecine  strife,  on  the  one  side  to  preserve 
the  Union  of  states  believed  to  be  the  most  beneficent  in  existence ;  on 
the  other  avowedly,  by  its  constitution,  founded  on  the  righteousness 
and  rightfulness  of  human  slavery.  The  one  was  fundamentally  right 
and  the  other  was  fundamentally  and  eternally  wrong.  It  was  in  this 
struggle  that  the  tragedy  of  Andersonville  became  possible. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SOME  HITHERTO  UNPUBLISHED  FACTS — ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  COURT — THE 
CHARGES  AND  SPECIFICATIONS — SPECIAL  PLEAS  INTERPOSED — JURISDICTION 
OF  THE  COURT — ONCE  IN  JEOPARDY — RIGHT  OF  PAROLE  CLAIMED — ARGUMENT 
— PLEAS  OVERRULED  —  FACTS  AS  TO  Wraz's  ARREST  —  WIRZ  PLEADS  NOT 
GUILTY — RULES  OF  PROCEDURE — CIRCUMSTANCES  OF  WIRZ'S  ARREST — WIRZ'S 
MILITARY  STATUS — His  PLACE  OF  BURIAL — THE  TRUE  SIGNIFICANCE  OF  THE 
TRIAL. 

THE  trial  of  Henry  Wirz  in  many  respects  brought  to  light  the 
most  startling  page  in  the  history  of  the  Rebellion.  Some  inter 
esting  facts  relating  to  that  trial  were  not  known  to  the  public  at  the 
time ;  other  facts  of  the  greatest  significance  were  brought  out  by  the 
record,  such  as,  for  example,  those  implicating  the  rebel  government. 
These  were  buried  out  of  sight  by  the  universal  demand  that  the  pris 
oner,  who  was  regarded  as  immediately  responsible,  should  not  escape 
punishment;  and,  with  his  execution,  the  secondary,  but  really  the 
most  important,  result  of  the  trial  was  overshadowed  by  the  rapidly 
recurring  political  movements  of  that  eventful  period.  It  is  now  pro 
posed  to  give  the  true  history  and  exact  results  of  that  trial. 

I  was  at  the  time  on  duty  at  the  War  Department  at  Washington, 
and  at  times  had  been  assigned  to  try  cases  as  Judge  Advocate  of 
courts-martial  and  military  commissions.  The  Andersonville  horror 
had  made  so  deep  an  impression  upon  the  nation  that  when  it  was 
Tniown  that  Wirz,  the  keeper  of  that  prison,  was  under  arrest,  his  trial 
became  imperative.  He  was  lodged  in  the  old  Capitol  Prison,  in 
Washington,  and  I  was  directed  by  Secretary  of  War  Stanton,  upon 
the  recommendation  of  Judge  Advocate-General  Holt,  to  prepare  the 
case  for  trial.  It  was  known  that  the  mortality  had  been  great,  yet 
few  persons  at  the  North,  not  even  the  prisoners  themselves,  were 
.aware  that  over  13,000  had  died  miserably  at  that  horrible  place,  and 
few  had  any  conception  that  a  great  crime  had  been  committed. 

While  Secretary  of  War  Stanton  and  Judge  Advocate-General 
Holt,  and  probably  some  other  high  officials,  as  well  as  President  John 
son,  suspected  that  the  heads  of  the  rebel  government  were  largely 


28  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

responsible  for  the  awful  suffering,  it  was  not  until  I  had  spent  some 
months  in  searching  out  proofs,  and  arranging  the  facts,  that  this  sus 
picion  deepened  into  conviction. 

By  August,  1865,  the  evidence  had  been  marshalled,  charges  and 
specifications  were  prepared  and  served  upon  the  prisoner,  and  the 
military  commission  constituted  to  try  him.  The  arraignment  of 
Wirz  upon  these  charges  and  specifications,  then  for  the  first  time 
published  to  the  world,  sent  a  thrill  of  horror  throughout  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Davis  was  a  prisoner  confined  in  Fortress  Monroe.  The  ques 
tion  as  to  what  proceedings  should  be  taken  against  him  as  the  leader 
of  the  Rebellion  was  before  the  cabinet  and  was  a  serious  problem.  His 
complicity  and  that  of  some  of  his  cabinet  officers  in  the  crime  of 
Andersonville  was  for  the  first  time  charged.  It  was  thought  unde 
sirable  for  many  reasons  to  furnish  any  pretext  for  bringing  the  ex- 
president  to  the  capital.  But  to  proceed  against  Wirz  with  Davis 
named  as  a  co-conspirator  presented  a  question  of  some  moment. 

The  nature  of  the  charges  was  known  to  Secretary  Stanton,  and 
I  had  reason  to  believe  that  he  was  familiar  with  the  form  and  sub 
stance  of  the  specifications,  although  it  is  quite  probable  that  neither 
the  president  nor  other  members  of  the  cabinet  had  such  knowledge. 
Wirz  had  pleaded  not  guilty  and  the  court  had  adjourned  until  the 
next  day. 

Upon  reassembling  a  package  was  placed  in  my  hands  from  the 
War  Department  which  proved  to  be  an  order  dissolving  the  court. 
Wirz  was  remanded  to  prison,  and  I  was  ordered  to  report  immediately 
to  the  War  Department,  while  the  members  of  the  court  went  their 
way  in  the  greatest  perplexity,  and  in  utter  ignorance  of  the  meaning 
of  so  abrupt  a  termination  of  the  trial.  This  proceeding,  as  we  shall 
see  later  on,  formed  the  basis  of  a  special  plea  interposed  by  Wirz. 

I  have  never  been  informed  of  the  reason  that  impelled  this  extraor 
dinary  and  precipitate  action  by  the  secretary  of  war,  for  of  his 
knowledge  of  every  step  taken  in  the  case,  I  had  every  assurance,  and 
yet  he  appeared  to  be  unusually  disturbed  at  the  coupling  of  Davis's 
name  and  other  high  rebel  functionaries  with  that  of  Wirz.  The  result 
of  it  all  was  that  I  was  directed  to  prepare  new  charges  and  specifica 
tions,  leaving  out  the  names  of  Davis,  Seddon,  and  others  of  Davis's 
cabinet,  and  proceed  against  Wirz. 

General  Holt  alone  knew,  for  I  had  talked  much  with  him,  of  the 
extent  and  character  of  the  evidence  I  had  gathered  in  support  of  the 


GENERAL    MOT 


GENERAL  THOMAS 


AL   BALLIER 


OEWERAL  WALLACE  Pres. 


GENERAL  FE$5£ND£N 


COLONEL  ALLCOCK 


iMp>W 


GE.NERAL  5TIB85 


THE  MILITARY  COMMISSION  THAT  TRIED  CAPTAIN  WIRZ,  KEEPER  OF  THE 
ANDERSONVILLE  PRISON. 


30  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

conspiracy  charge.  He  was  in  full  sympathy  with  my  view,  that  the 
trial  should  be  made  the  means  of  bringing  to  light  and  giving  the 
history  and  the  whole  truth  as  to  this  prison,  and  not  simply  to  submit 
evidence  to  convict  Wirz,  which  was  of  comparatively  small  conse 
quence  and  the  work  of  only  a  few  days.  It  was  finally  concluded  to 
retain  the  charges  and  specifications  in  their  then  form,  omitting  the 
names  mentioned,  and  substituting  certain  persons  of  less  note  who 
had  been  connected  with  the  prison,  adding  the  words  "and  others 
unknown,"  and  in  that  form  of  pleading  submit  all  the  evidence 
touching  upon  the  alleged  conspiracy.  To  this  course  the  secretary 
of  war  consented,  and  the  court  was  again  constituted  as  before.  Wirz 
was  again  arraigned  and  pleaded  not  guilty,  after  interposing  certain 
pleas  in  bar  which  were  overruled,  as  will  later  appear,  and  the  trial 
began.  It  opened  August  23, 1865,  and  closed  October  24, 1865,  lasting 
sixty-three  days.  The  court  was  composed  of  officers  who  had  seen 
much  service,  and  some  of  them  were  men  of  national  reputation.  In 
its  personnel  the  court  was  unimpeachable,  and  its  findings  must  chal 
lenge  respect  and  confidence. 

The  facts  appearing  in  the  following  pages,  except  as  otherwise 
indicated,  are  taken  from  the  record  of  the  Wirz  trial,  published  in 
Executive  Document  No.  23,  40th  Congress,  2nd  Session.  The  intro 
ductory  page  explains  when  and  by  what  authority  it  was  published 
and  how  the  evidence  was  prepared.  It  comprises  a  volume  of  850 
closely  printed  pages,  including  a  very  complete  index.  Where  refer 
ence  is  made  to  this  publication  it  will  be  designated  "Record."  In 
quoting  from  the  testimony  and  official  reports  such  portions  will  be 
used  as  will  present  the  substance  of  the  evidence,  omitting  immaterial 
details. 

ORGANIZATION  OP  THE  COURT. 

Letter  from  the  Secretary  of  War  Ad  Interim,1  in  answer  to 
a  resolution  of  the  House  of  April  16,  1866,  transmitting  a  sum 
mary  of  the  trial  of  Henry  Wirz. 

December  7,  1867. — Referred  to  the  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  and  ordered 
to  be  printed. 

1  Record,  p.  i. 


FACTS  AND  EESULTS  OF  TEIAL.  31 

WAR  DEPARTMENT. 
Washington  City,  December  5,  1867. 

SIR:  In  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  dated 
April  16,  1866,  I  have  the  honor  to  send  herewith  a  summary  of  the  proceed 
ings,  &c.,  of  the  trial  of  Henry  Wirz. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant,  U.  S.  GRANT, 

Secretary  of  War  ad  interim. 
Hon.  S.  COLFAX,  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives. 

THE  TRIAL  OF  HENRY  WIRZ. 

[Prepared  in  the  office  of  the  Adjutant  General  United  States  army,  in  ac 
cordance  with  the  following  resolution  of  Congress] : 

THIRTY-NINTH  CONGRESS— FIRST  SESSION. 

CONGRESS  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
In  the  House  of  Representatives,  April  16,  1866. 
On  motion  of  MR.  GARFIELD,* 

Resolved,  That  the  Secretary  of  War  be  requested  to  have  prepared  for  pub 
lication  the  proceedings  of  the  trial  of  Henry  Wirz,  in  which  shall  be  em 
braced,  as  nearly  as  practicable  in  the  language  of  the  witnesses,  a  summary  of 
the  testimony  given,  and  the  decisions,  findings,  and  sentence  of  the  court,  to 
gether  with  the  address  of  the  judge  advocate,  and  that  made  in  defence  of  the 
prisoner. 
Attest:  EDWARD  MCPHERSON,  Clerk. 

The  order  convening  the  court  and  the  charges  and  specifications 
were  as  follows:2 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  ADJUTANT  GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 

Washington,  August  23,  1865. 

[Special  Orders  No.  453.] 
[Extract.] 

3.  A  special  military  commission  is  hereby  appointed  to  meet  in  this  city  at 
11  o'clock  a.  m.,  on  the  23d  day  of  August,  1865,  or  as  soon  thereafter  as  prac 
ticable,  for  the  trial  of  Henry  Wirz,  and  such  other  prisoners  as  may  be 
brought  before  it. 

DETAIL    FOR    THE    COMMISSION. 

Major  General  L.  Wallace,  United  States  volunteers. 

Brevet  Major  General  G.  Mott,  United  States  volunteers. 

Brevet  Major  General  J.  W.  Geary,  United  States  volunteers. 

Brevet  Major  General  L.  Thomas,  Adjutant  General  United  States  army. 

Brigadier  General  Francis  Fesseden,  United  States  volunteers. 

Brigadier  General  E.  S.  Bragg,  United  States  volunteers.  3 

Brevet  Brigadier  General  John  F.  Ballier,  colonel  ninety-eighth  Pennsyl 
vania  volunteers. 

Brevet  Colonel  T.  Allcoek,  lieutenant  colonel  fourth  New  York  heavy  artillery. 

Lieutenant  Colonel  J.  H.  Stibbs,  twelfth  Iowa  volunteers. 

Colonel  N.  P.  Chipman,  additional  aide-de-camp,  judge  advocate  of  the 
commission,  with  such  assistants  as  he  may  select,  with  the  approval  of  the 
Judge  Advocate-General. 

The  commission  will  sit  without  regard  to  hours. 

By  order  of  the  President  of  the  United  States:  E.  D.  TOWNSEND, 
Assistant  Adjutant  General. 

1  Afterwards  President  of  the  United  States. 

2  Record,  p.  z. 

8  General  Bragg  was  relieved  on  account  of  illness  and  did  not  participate  in  the  findings.. 
Record,  p.  511. 


32  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

On  August  23,  1865,  in  Washington,  D.  C.,  all  the  members  named 
in  the  foregoing  order  and  the  judge  advocate  being  present,  the  com 
mission  proceeded  to  the  trial  of  Henry  Wirz,  who,  having  been 
brought  before  the  commission,  and  having  heard  the  order  convening 
it  read,  was  asked  whether  he  had  any  objection  to  any  member  named 
therein,  to  which  he  replied  in  the  negative. 

The  judge  advocate  then  laid  before  the  commission  the  correspond 
ence  requesting  the  services  of  Major  A.  A.  Hosmer  as  assistant  judge 
advocate,  and  the  approval  of  the  Judge  Advocate-General  of  such 
selection. 

The  members  of  the  commission  were  then  duly  sworn  by  the  judge 
advocate,  and  the  judge  advocate  and  assistant  judge  advocate  were 
duly  sworn  by  the  president  of  the  commission  respectively  in  the 
presence  of  the  accused. 

Henry  G.  Hayes,  D.  Wolfe  Brown,  and  William  Hinks  were  duly 
sworn  by  the  judge  advocate  as  reporters  to  the  commission. 

The  accused  was  then  duly  arraigned  on  the  following 

CHARGES  AND  SPECIFICATIONS. 

CHARGE  I.  Maliciously,  wilfully,  and  traitorously,  and  in  aid  of  the  then  ex 
isting  armed  rebellion  against  the  United  States  of  America,  on  or  about  the 
first  day  of  March,  A.  D.  1864,  and  on  divers  other  days  between  that  day  and 
the  tenth  day  of  April,  1865,  combining,  confederating,  and  conspiring  together 
with  John  H.  Winder,  Richard  B.  Winder,  Joseph  White,  W.  S.  Winder,  R.  R. 
Stevenson,  and  others  unknown,  to  injure  the  health  and  destroy  the  lives  of 
soldiers  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  then  held  and  being  pris 
oners  of  war  within  the  lines  of  the  so-called  Confederate  States  and  in  the  mil 
itary  prisons  thereof,  to  the  end  that  the  armies  of  the  United  States  might  be 
weakened  and  impaired;  in  violation  of  the  laws  and  customs  of  war. 

Specification. — In  this:  that  he,  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  did  combine,  confed 
erate,  and  conspire  with  them,  the  said  John  H.  Winder,  Richard  B.  Winder, 
Joseph  White,  W.  S.  Winder,  R.  R.  Stevenson,  and  others  whose  names  are 
unknown,  citizens  of  the  United  States  aforesaid,  and  who  were  then  engaged 
in  armed  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  maliciously,  traitorously,  and  in 
violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  to  impair  and  injure  the  health  and  to  destroy  the 
lives,  by  subjecting  to  torture  and  great  suffering,  by  confining  in  unhealthy 
and  unwholesome  quarters,  by  exposing  to  the  inclemency  of  winter  and  to 
the  dews  and  burning  sun  of  summer,  by  compelling  the  use  of  impure  water 
and  by  furnishing  insufficient  and  unwholesome  food,  of  large  numbers  of 
federal  prisoners,  to-wit,  the  number  of  thirty  thousand,  soldiers  in  the  military 
service  of  the  United  States  of  America,  held  as  prisoners  of  war  at  Ander- 
scnville,  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  within  the  lines  of  the  so-called  Confederate 
States,  on  or  before  the  first  day  of  March  A.  D.  1864,  and  at  divers  times 
between  that  day  and  the  tenth  day  of  April,  A.  D.  1865,  to  the  end  that  the 


FACTS  AND  KESULTS  OF  TKIAL.  33 

armies  of  the  United  States  might  be  weakened  and  impaired,  and  the  insur 
gents  engaged  in  armed  rebellion  against  the  United  States  might  be  aided 
and  comforted:  and  he,  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  an  officer  in  the  military  service 
of  the  so-called  Confederate  States,  being  then  and  there  commandant  of  a 
military  prison  at  Andersonville,  in  the  State  of  Georgia,  located  by  authority 
of  the  so-called  Confederate  States,  for  the  confinment  of  prisoners  of  war, 
and  as  such  commandant,  fully  clothed  with  authority,  and  in  duty  bound  to 
treat,  care,  and  provide  for  such  prisoners  held  as  aforesaid,  as  were  or  might 
be  placed  in  his  custody,  according  to  the  laws  of  war,  did,  in  furtherance  of 
such  combination,  confederation,  and  conspiracy,  and  incited  thereunto  by 
them,  the  said  John  H.  Winder,  Richard  B.  Winder,  Joseph  White,  W.  S. 
Winder,  R.  R.  Stevenson,  and  others  whose  names  are  unknown,  maliciously, 
wickedly,  and  traitorously  confine  a  large  number  of  such  prisoners  of  war, 
soldiers  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  to  the  amount  of  thirty 
thousand  men,  in  unhealthy  and  unwholesome  quarters,  in  a  close  and  small 
area  of  ground,  wholly  inadequate  to  their  wants  and  destructive  to  their 
health,  which  he  well  knew  and  intended;  and  while  there  so  confined,  during 
the  time  aforesaid,  did,  in  furtherance  of  his  evil  design,  and  in  aid  of  the  said 
conspiracy,  wilfully  and  maliciously  neglect  to  furnish  tents,  barracks,  or 
other  shelter  sufficient  for  their  protection  from  the  inclemency  of  winter  and 
the  dews  and  burning  sun  of  summer;  and  with  such  evil  intent  did  take  and 
cause  to  be  taken  from  them  their  clothing,  blankets,  camp  equipage,  and 
other  property  of  which  they  were  possessed  at  the  time  of  being  placed  in 
his  custody;  and  with  like  malice  and  evil  intent,  did  refuse  to  furnish  or 
cause  to  be  furnished  food,  either  of  a  quality  or  quantity  sufficient  to  preserve 
health  and  sustain  life;  and  did  refuse  and  neglect  to  furnish  wood  sufficient 
for  cooking  in  summer,  and  to  keep  the  said  prisoners  warm  in  winter,  and 
did  compel  the  said  prisoners  to  subsist  upon  unwholesome  food,  and  that  in 
limited  quantities  entirely  inadequate  to  sustain  health,  which  he  well  knew; 
and  did  compel  the  said  prisoners  to  use  unwholesome  water,  reeking  with 
the  filth  and  garbage  of  the  prison  and  prison  guard,  and  the  offal  and  drainage 
of  the  cook-house  of  said  prison,  whereby  the  prisoners  became  greatly  reduced 
in  their  bodily  strength,  and  emaciated  and  injured  in  their  bodily  health; 
their  minds  impaired  and  their  intellects  broken;  and  many  of  them,  to-wit, 
the  number  of  ten  thousand,  whose  names  are  unknown,  sickened  and  diefl 
by  reason  thereof,  which  he.  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  then  and  there  well  knew 
and  intended;  and  so  knowing  and  evilly  intending,  did  refuse  and  neglect  to 
provide  proper  lodgings,  food  or  nourishment  for  the  sick,  and  necessary  medi 
cine  and  medical  attendance  for  the  restoration  of  their  health,  and  did  know 
ingly,  wilfully,  and  maliciously,  in  furtherance  of  his  evil  design^,  permit  them 
to  languish  and  die  from  want  of  care  and  proper  treatment;  and  the  said 
Henry  Wirz,  still  pursuing  his  evil  purposes,  did  permit  to  remain  in  the  said 
prison,  among  the  emaciated  sick  and  languishing  living,  the  bodies  of  the 
dead,  until  they  became  corrupt  and  loathsome,  and  filled  the  air  with  foetid 
and  noxious  exhalations,  and  thereby  greatly  increased  the  unwholesomeness 
of  the  prison,  insomuch  that  great  numbers  of  said  prisoners,  to-wit,  the  num 
ber  of  one  thousand,  whose  names  are  unknown,  sickened  and  died  by  reason 
thereof;  and  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  still  pursuing  his  wicked  and  cruel  pur- 


34  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

pose,  wholly  disregarding  the  usages  of  civilized  warfare,  did  at  the  time  and 
place  aforesaid  maliciously  and  wilfully  subject  the  prisoners  aforesaid  to 
cruel,  unusual  and  infamous  punishment  upon  slight,  trivial,  and  fictitious 
pretences,  by  fastening  large  balls  of  iron  to  their  feet,  and  binding  large 
numbers  of  the  prisoners  aforesaid  closely  together  with  large  chains  around 
their  necks  and  feet,  so  that  they  walked  with  the  greatest  difficulty;  and 
being  so  confined  were  subjected  to  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun,  often  without 
food  or  drink  for  hours  and  even  days;  from  which  said  cruel  treatment  large 
numbers,  to-wit,  the  number  of  one  hundred,  whose  names  are  unknown, 
sickened,  fainted,  and  died:  and  he,  the  said  Wirz,  did  further  cruelly  treat 
and  injure  said  prisoners,  by  maliciously  confining  them  within  an  instrument 
of  torture  called  "the  stocks,"  thus  depriving  them  of  the  use  of  their  limbs, 
and  forcing  them  to  lie,  sit,  and  stand  for  many  hours  without  the  power  of 
changing  position,  and  being  without  food  or  drink,  in  consequence  of  which 
many,  to-wit,  the  number  of  thirty,  whose  names  are  unknown,  sickened  and 
died:  and  he,  the  said  Wirz,  still  wickedly  pursuing  his  evil  purpose,  did 
establish  and  cause  to  be  designated  within  the  prison  enclosure  containing 
said  prisoners,  a  "dead-line,"  being  a  line  around  the  inner  face  of  the  stock 
ade  or  wall  enclosing  said  prison,  and  about  twenty  feet  distant  from  and 
within  said  stockade;  and  having  so  established  said  dead-line,  which  was  in 
many  places  an  imaginary  line,  and  in  many  other  places  marked  by  insecure 
and  shifting  strips  of  boards  nailed  upon  the  tops  of  small  and  insecure  stakes  or 
posts,  he,  the  said  Wirz,  instructed  the  prison-guard  stationed  around  the  top 
of  said  stockade  to  fire  upon  and  kill  any  of  the  prisoners  aforesaid  who  might 
touch,  fall  upon,  pass  over,  or  under,  or  across  the  said  "dead-line";  pursuant 
to  which  said  orders  and  instructions,  maliciously  and  needlessly  given  by  said 
Wirz,  the  said  prison-guard  did  fire  upon  and  kill  a  large  number  of  said  pris 
oners,  to-wit,  the  number  of  about  three  hundred;  and  the  said  Wirz,  still  pur 
suing  his  evil  purpose,  did  keep  and  use  ferocious  and  bloodthirsty  beasts, 
dangerous  to  human  life,  called  bloodhounds,  to  hunt  down  prisoners  of  war 
aforesaid,  who  made  their  escape  from  his  custody,  and  did  then  and  there 
wilfully  and  maliciously  suffer,  incite,  and  encourage  the  said  beasts  to  seize, 
tear,  mangle,  and  maim  the  bodies  and  limbs  of  said  fugitive  prisoners  of  war, 
which  the  said  beasts,  incited  as  aforesaid,  then  and  there  did,  whereby  a 
large  number  of  said  prisoners  of  war,  who  during  the  time  aforesaid  made 
their  escape  and  were  recaptured,  and  were  by  the  said  beasts  then  and  there 
cruelly  and  inhumanly  injured,  insomuch  that  many  of  said  prisoners,  to-wit, 
the  number  of  about  fifty,  died:  and  the  said  Wirz,  still  pursuing  his  wicked 
purpose,  and  still  aiding  in  carrying  out  said  conspiracy,  did  use  and  cause  to 
be  used  for  the  pretended  purposes  of  vaccination,  impure  and  poisonous 
vaccine  matter,  which  said  impure  and  poisonous  matter  was  then  and  there, 
by  the  direction  and  order  of  said  Wirz,  maliciously,  cruelly,  and  wickedly 
deposited  in  the  arms  of  many  of  said  prisoners,  by  reason  of  which  large 
numbers  of  them,  to-wit,  one  hundred,  lost  the  use  of  their  arms,  and  many  of 
them,  to-wit,  about  the  number  of  two  hundred,  were  so  injured  that  they 
soon  thereafter  died:  all  of  which  he,  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  well  knew  and 
maliciously  intended,  and  in  aid  of  the  then  existing  rebellion  against  the 
United  States,  with  a  view  to  assist  in  weakening  and  impairing  the  armies 


FACTS  AND  KESULTS  OF  TEIAL.  35 

of  the  United  States,  and  in  furtherance  of  the  said  conspiracy  and  with  the 
full  knowledge,  consent,  and  connivance  of  his  co-conspirators  aforesaid,  he 
the  said  Wirz  then  and  there  did. 

CHARGE  II. — Murder,  in  violation  of  the  laws  and  customs  of  war. 

Specification  1. — In  this:  that  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  an  officer  in  the  military 
service  of  the  so-called  Confederate  States  of  America,  at  Andersonville,  in  the 
State  of  Georgia,  on  or  about  the  eighth  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1864,  then  and 
there  being  commandant  of  a  prison  there  located  by  the  authority  of  the  said 
so-called  Confederate  States,  for  the  confinment  of  prisoners  of  war,  taken  and 
held  as  such  from  the  armies  of  the  United  States  of  America,  while  acting  as 
said  commandant,  feloniously,  wilfully,  and  of  his  malice  aforethought,  did 
make  an  assault,  and  he,  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  a  certain  pistol,  called  a  re 
volver,  then  and  there  loaded  and  charged  with  gunpowder  and  bullets,  which 
said  pistol  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  in  his  hand  there  and  then  had  and  held, 
to,  against,  and  upon  a  soldier  belonging  to  the  army  of  the  United  States,  in 
his  the  said  Henry  Wirz's  custody  as  a  prisoner  of  war,  whose  name  is  un 
known,  then  and  there  feloniously,  and  of  his  malice  aforethought,  did  shoot 
and  discharge,  inflicting  upon  the  body  of  the  soldier  aforesaid  a  mortal  wound 
with  the  pistol  aforesaid,  in  consequence  of  which  said  mortal  wound,  mur 
derously  inflicted  by  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  the  said  soldier  thereafter,  to-wit, 
en  the  ninth  day  of  July,  A.  D.  1864,  died. 

[Then  follow  twelve  other  specifications  charging  murder  of  prisoners  in  his 
keeping,  namely;  second,  by  jumping  upon  and  stamping  to  death;  third,  by 
shooting  with  a  revolver;  fourth,  by  shooting  with  a  revolver;  fifth,  by  confine 
ment  in  the  stocks;  sixth,  by  confining  in  the  stocks;  seventh,  by  binding  the 
necks  and  feet  with  iron  balls  and  chains;  eighth,  by  ordering  a  sentinel  to 
shoot  a  prisoner;  ninth,  by  ordering  a  sentinel  to  fire  upon  and  killing  a  pris 
oner;  tenth,  by  the  same  means;  eleventh,  by  ferocious  dogs  in  the  pursuit  of 
prisoners;  twelfth,  by  ordering  a  sentinel  to  shoot  a  prisoner;  thirteenth,  by 
beating  a  prisoner  upon  the  head  with  a  revolver.] 

(Signed) :     By  order  of  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

N.  P.  CHIPMAN,  Colonel  and  A.  D.  C.  Judge  Advocate. 

After  full  argument  and  deliberation,  the  court  found  Wirz  guilty 
of  the  first  charge  and  its  specifications,  striking  out  the  word  "blood 
hounds"  and  inserting  "dogs"  in  lieu  thereof,  and  restoring  the  names 
of  Jefferson  Davis  and  all  others  originally  named  as  co-conspirators, 
except  General  Lee.  Upon  the  second  charge  the  court  found  the 
prisoner  guilty  of  eleven  distinct  murders  out  of  the  thirteen  charged, 
and  of  three  murders  by  use  of  the  dogs,  not  charged  but  shown  by 
the  evidence.1 


1  Record,  p.  305. 

In  military  trials   the   court  may  amend   the   charges   or   specifications  to   accord   with   the 
evidence. 


36 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 


While  the  verdict  was  not  a  conviction  of  the  conspirators  other 
than  Wirz,  it  was  the  equivalent  of  an  indictment  found  against 
them  for  the  wholesale  and  needless  mortality  charged. 


COLONEL  N.  P.  CHIPMAN,         GENERAL  N.  P.  CHIPMAN,         COLONEL  A.  A.   HOSMER, 
Judge  Advocate,   1863.  1906.  Ass't  Judge  Advocate,  1863. 

The  evidence  was  of  a  most  convincing  character,  for  the  findings 
rested  largely  upon  the  official  reports  of  rebel  officers,  made  alone  for 
the  eye  of  their  superiors  at  Richmond.  Much  of  the  testimony  was 
given  by  rebel  officers  who  had  been  on  duty  at  the  prison,  and  there 
were  called  as  witnesses  nearly  one  hundred  of  the  surviving  prisoners. 

Messrs.  Hughes,  Denver,  and  Peck,  a  prominent  law  firm  of  Wash 
ington,  represented  the  prisoner  to  this  point  of  his  arraignment,  but 
withdrew  from  the  case,  and  Messrs.  Louis  Schade  and  0.  S.  Baker 
entered  their  appearance  for  the  prisoner,  who,  being  called  upon 
to  plead,  interposed  the  following  pleas: 

PLEAS  INTERPOSED. 

That  he  was  protected  from  punishment  because  he  was  included 
In  the  convention  entered  into,  on  April  26,  1865,  between  Major-Gen 
eral  William  T.  Sherman  and  General  Joseph  E.  Johnston,  on  the 
surrender  of  the  latter.  Also,  because  he  was  at  Andersonville, 


FACTS  AND  EESULTS  OF  TEIAL.  37 

Georgia,  when  arrested,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  his  liberty,  and  that 
he  was  promised,  upon  giving  such  information  as  might  be  required 
of  him  concerning  said  prison,  that ' '  he  should  have  safe  conduct  going 
and  returning  to  his  home,  and  should  not  be  arrested  as  a  prisoner." 
Also,  that  the  military  commission  was  without  jurisdiction  to  try 
him.  Also,  that  he  was  once  in  jeopardy  and  pleaded  not  guilty,  and 
the  commission  was  without  authority  to  again  arraign  and  put  him 
upon  his  trial.  Also,  that  the  charges  and  specifications  do  not  charge 
any  offence  punishable  under  the  laws  of  war. 

These  pleas  presented  questions  going  to  the  legality  of  the  pro 
ceedings  and  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court,  and  as  they  have  been 
put  forward  at  this  late  day  as  showing  that  Wirz  was  "judicially 
murdered,"  i.  e.  that  he  'paid  the  penalty  of  his  life  by  reason  of  a 
trial  unknown  to  the  laws  of  war,  and  in  violation  of  all  law,  it  becomes 
important  to  set  forth  the  argument  which  was  addressed  to  the 
court  after  which  the  pleas  were  overruled. 

ARGUMENT  ON  SPECIAL  PLEAS. 

The  JUDGE  ADVOCATE  said  that  he  did  not  consider  it  necessary  to  discuss 
the  motion  to  quash  the  charges  and  specifications,  on  the  ground  of  insuffi 
ciency  and  indefiniteness.  That  question  had  already  been  decided  by  the 
court,  at  one  stage  of  its  proceedings.  The  court  would,  no  doubt,  be  able  to 
determine,  by  an  examination  of  the  charges  and  specifications,  whether  they 
were  sufficiently  definite  to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  law. 

The  next  question  was  that  raised  by  the  plea  setting  out  the  fact  that  a 
court,  consisting  of  the  same  members  as  this,  has  already  taken  cognizance  of 
this  case,  had  had  the  prisoner  arraigned  before  them  upon  charges  similar  to 
those  now  preferred,  and  that  the  prisoner  had  pleaded  "not  guilty."  It  is 
alleged  by  the  counsel  that,  by  that  proceeding,  the  prisoner  has  once,  accord 
ing  to  the  contemplation  of  the  Constitution,  been  put  in  jeopardy  for  the 
offences  charged,  and  that,  therefore,  this  court  cannot  proceed  to  try  the 
prisoner. 

In  answer  to  this  objection,  the  judge  advocate  said  he  did  not  deem  it 
necessary  to  do  more  than  read  the  following  official  opinion,  given  by  the 
chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Military  Justice,  the  expounder,  so  far  as  the  army  is 
concerned,  of  all  questions  relating  to  military  law: 

JUDGE  ADVOCATE  GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 

October  23,  1864. 

MAJOR:  Your  letter  of  the  17th  instant  has  been  received.  In  reply,  I  have 
to  state  that  a  party  who  has  been  arraigned  before  a  court-martial  on  charges 
and  specifications  to  which  he  has  pleaded,  should  not,  in  the  sense  of  the 
eighty-seventh  article  of  war,  be  regarded  as  having  been  tried  upon  them, 
unless  the  government  had  pursued  the  case  to  a  formal  acquittal  or  con 
viction.  Under  the  constitutional  provision  which  declares  that  no  person 
"shall  be  subject  for  the  same  offence  to  be  twice  put  in  jeopardy  of  life  or 


38  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

limb,"  it  lias  been  held  that  "the  jeopardy  spoken  of  can  be  interpreted  to 
mean  nothing  short  of  the  acquittal  or  conviction  of  the  prisoner,  and  the 
judgment  of  the  court  thereon."  (4  Wash.  C.  C.  R.,  409.)  To  the  same  effect 
are  the  opinions  of  McLean,  J.,  in  United  States  vs.  Shoemaker,  2  McLean  R., 
114,  and  of  Story,  J.,  in  United  States  vs.  Perez,  9  Wheaton,  579.  The  courts 
of  Massachusetts,  New  York,  Illinois,  Kentucky  and  Mississippi  fully  sustain 
this  view.  If  anything  less  than  a  formal  acquittal  or  conviction  cannot  be 
treated  as  having  even  put  the  party  "in  jeopardy,"  a  fortiori,  it  cannot  be 
held  as  amounting,  within  the  meaning  of  the  eighty-seventh  article  of  war, 
to  a  "trial." 

A  withdrawal  of  any  charge  may  be  made  by  the  judge  advocate,  with  the 
assent  of  the  court;  and  upon  such  charge,  if  the  interests  of  public  justice  re 
quire  it,  the  party  may  be  again  arraigned. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant,  J.  HOLT, 

Major  J.  M.  WILLETT,  Judge  Advocate  General. 

Judge  Advocate. 

The  JUDGE  ADVOCATE  remarked  that  under  this  decision  the  question  raised 
might  be  considered  as  res  adjudicata.  He  then  continued  his  argument  as 
follows: 

Laying  aside  for  the  present  the  discussion  of  the  plea  to  the  jurisdiction,1 
which  may  be  properly  taken  up  at  any  time  during  the  trial,  there  seem  to  be 
but  two  questions  seriously  urged  by  counsel  for  the  present  consideration  of 
the  court.  These  are: 

First.  Shall  this  court  dismiss  the  case  at  bar  because  Captain  Noyes,  a  staff 
officer  of  Brevet  Major-General  Wilson,  violated,  as  is  alleged,  a  promise  made 
to  this  prisoner  to  grant  him  safe  conduct  to  General  Wilson's  headquarters 
and  back  again  to  his  home?  And  second,  admitting  that  the  prisoner  com 
plied  with  the  terms  exacted  of  rebel  soldiers  and  officers  by  the  Sherman  and 
Johnston  convention,  does  the  agreement  made  by  those  generals  absolve  this 
prisoner  from  responsibility  for  offences  and  crimes  committed  in  violation 
of  the  laws  of  war? 

Supposing  the  promise  and  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  given  to 
be  such  as  alleged  by  counsel,  of  which  we  as  yet  have  no  proof,  the  first  point 
raised  by  the  counsel  seems  to  me  to  present  simply  a  violation  of  compact  or 
contract  entered  into  between  the  prisoner  and  a  staff  officer  of  General  Wilson, 
with  which  this  court  can  have  nothing  to  do.  If  a  promise  made  by  that 
officer  to  grant  the  prisoner  a  safe  conduct  to  and  from  any  point  has  been 
violated,  his  remedy  is  upon  General  Wilson;  and  the  circumstance  ought  not 
to  be  pleaded  before  this  court  in  excuse  of  crimes  previously  committed  by 
him.  If  General  Wilson  sent  for  the  prisoner  for  any  purpose  whatever,  prom 
ising  him  a  safe  return,  and  afterwards  discovered  that  he  was  guilty  of  hav 
ing  committed  most  atrocious  crimes,  he  was  fully  justified  in  revoking  the 
safeguard  by  himself  given,  and  taking  immediate  steps  to  bring  the  criminal 
to  justice.  A  general  always  has  the  right  to  rescind  his  own  order;  and  I 
think  General  Wilson  would  have  found  it  difficult  to  answer  to  his  superior 
officers  if  he  had  released  from  arrest,  and  allowed  to  return  to  his  home,  so 
great  a  criminal  as  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  stands  charged  with  being,  rather 

1  The  question  of  jurisdiction  will  be  found  fully  argued,  Record,  p.  723 ;  in  this  book, 
chap.  XIV;  also  the  law  and  facts  discussed  under  the  conspiracy  charge. 


FACTS  AND  EESULTS  OF  TRIAL.  39 

than  violate  the  promise  set  out  in  the  plea.  General  Wilson  had  no  power 
(and  it  is  not  alleged  that  he  had)  to  absolve  the  prisoner  from  the  responsi 
bility  attaching  to  his  crime. 

The  books  tell  us  of  four  special  pleas  in  bar,  which  are  good,  if  proved. 
These  are  former  acquittal,  former  conviction,  attainder,  and  pardon.  Attain 
der,  however,  is,  I  believe,  not  known  to  the  practice  in  this  country.  But  I 
nowhere  find  that  a  special  plea  in  bar  is  good  when  it  simply  alleges  the  viola 
tion  of  a  promise  by  one  who  is  not  pretended  to  have  possessed  power  to  do 
more  than  offer  a  safeguard,  and  which  he  was  at  any  time  at  liberty  to 
revoke.  I  suppose  the  gentlemen  will  not  insist  that  a  promise  of  safe  conduct 
works  a  general  pardon  or  condonement  of  all  past  crimes.  It  sometimes 
happens  that  criminals  turning  "State's  evidence,"  as  it  is  called,  are,  by  a 
sort  of  implied  pledge  made  to  them  by  the  government,  allowed  to  go  unpun 
ished,  though,  even  in  a  case  of  this  character,  the  government  may,  at  its  dis 
cretion,  violate  its  pledge.  But  the  plea  involving  the  point  now  under  discus 
sion  has  not  for  its  basis  even  an  implied  pledge  of  the  government.  It  simply 
presents  a  case  analogous  to  one  where  a  police  officer,  arresting  a  criminal, 
says  to  him,  "Come  with  me  to  the  magistrate's  office,  and  I  will  see  that  you 
are  not  injured";  the  magistrate,  upon  an  investigation,  discovers  the  crime, 
and,  as  in  duty  bound,  pays  no  regard  whatever  to  the  promise  of  the  police 
officer,  but  at  once  takes  steps  for  the  proper  trial  and  punishment  of  the 
offender.  In  such  a  case,  would  any  court  entertain  seriously  a  plea  that  the 
prisoner  should  be  discharged  without  trial  because  of  the  promise  made  to 
him  by  the  officer  who,  in  the  first  instance,  made  the  arrest?  It  is  not 
alleged  that  Captain  Noyes  acted  upon  instructions  given  him  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  nor  is  it  shown  that  he  acted  upon  instructions  even  of 
General  Wilson;  but  assuming  the  latter  to  be  true,  the  case  is  similar  to  the 
illustration  just  given.  I  insist,  therefore,  that  the  plea  is  not  good  and  should 
be  overruled. 

*  The  second  point  and  objection  made  by  the  counsel  seems  to  present  a  ques 
tion  of  more  difficulty,  yet,  so  far  as  the  rights  of  this  prisoner  are  concerned, 
it  is  quite  as  easily  disposed  of.  The  court  must  bear  in  mind  that  this  plea, 
which  is  in  the  nature  of  a  plea  in  bar,  must  contain  one  of  the  three  elements 
already  referred  to.  Former  acquittal  is  not  assumed,  nor  former  conviction. 
There  remains,  then,  only  the  plea  based  upon  pardon,  and  I  suppose  it  is 
under  this  head  that  the  counsel  hope,  if  at  all,  to  secure  a  lodgment  for  their 
plea.  If  members  will  turn  to  Archibold's  Criminal  Pleading,  page  87,  they 
will  discover  that  a  plea  in  bar  of  this  class  must  set  out  in  terms  the  pardon 
granted,  which  the  plea  here  filed  does  not  pretend  to  do;  and  on  page  357, 
Wharton's  Criminal  Law,  it  will  be  found  that  the  pardon  must  correctly 
recite  the  offence,  and  a  misrecital  will  render  it  inoperative.  The  plea, 
therefore,  is  bad. 

But  I  suppose  counsel  will  insist  that  the  agreement  entered  into  between 
General  Sherman  and  General  Johnston  may  be  construed  to  be  in  the  nature 
of  a  general  amnesty  or  pardon.  It  is  not  necessary  for  this  court  to  deter 
mine  the  precise  legal  interpretation  of  the  agreement  cited.  It  will  be  quite 
enough  if  the  court  satisfy  itself  that  that  agreement  does  not  affect  its  right 


40  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

to  hold  the  prisoner  at  bar  to  answer  for  the  crimes  alleged.  It  is  very  certain 
from  the  action  of  the  government  contemporary  with  that  agreement,  and 
from  the  subsequent  action  of  the  chief  executive,  and  the  opinion  of  the 
attorney-general,  officially  expressed,  that  neither  a  treaty  of  peace,  nor  a 
general  amnesty  or  pardon,  nor  a  universal  absolution  of  crimes  committed 
by  rebels  during  war,  entered  into  the  terms  of  the  capitulation  required  by 
General  Grant  of  General  Lee,  and  later,  by  General  Sherman  of  General 
Johnston.  It  will  be  remembered  that  in  the  first  convention  between  Gen 
erals  Sherman  and  Johnston,  a  certain  plan  of  settlement  was  agreed  upon 
by  them  and  forwarded  to  the  president  for  his  approval,  and  upon  this  plan 
General  Sherman  proposed  to  declare  peace  from  the  Potomac  to  the  Rio 
Grande.  It  will  be  remembered,  too,  with  what  promptness  the  government 
disapproved  the  plan;  and  one  of  the  chief  objections  was  that  the  terms 
worked  a  general  amnesty  or  pardon,  and  made  the  punishment  of  treason 
and  treasonable  offences  impossible.  One  of  the  reasons  assigned  for  the  dis 
approval  of  that  convention  was  in  these  words:  "It  practically  abolishes 
the  confiscation  laws  and  relieves  rebels  of  every  degree,  who  nave  slaughtered 
our  people,  -from  all  pains  and  penalties  for  their  crimes." 

No  language  could  more  clearly  show  that  the  government  had  no  intention 
to  grant  an  implied  pardon  for  such  offences  as  those  charged  against  this 
prisoner. 

It  will  be  remembered,  too,  that  later,  and  since  the  war  in  the  field  prac 
tically  ended,  the  chief  executive  has  issued  his  amnesty  proclamation, 
every  paragraph  of  which  demonstrates  that  he  does  not  regard  the  agree 
ment  made  by  Generals  Grant  and  Lee  and  by  Generals  Sherman  and  John 
ston,  as  working  the  pardon  of  any  person  coming  within  the  terms  of  the 
agreement;  and  as  the  result  of  the  president's  interpretation,  we  know  that 
the  executive  mansion  is  daily  beseiged  from  morning  till  night  with  appli 
cants  for  pardon,  embracing  all  ranks  and  grades  of  society,  the  enlisted 
soldier  and  the  major-general  of  the  late  rebel  army,  as  well  as  the  private 
citizen.  It  will  be  recollected,  also,  that  a  United  States  judge  for  the  district 
of  Virginia  has,  since  the  date  of  the  agreement  set  out  in  the  plea,  charged 
the  grand  jury  that  it  was  their  right  and  duty,  notwithstanding  that  agree 
ment,  to  inquire  into  the  offence  of  treason  committed  by  any  person  who 
had  been  engaged  in  rebellion  against  the  United  States  government.  It  may 
be  mentioned,  also,  that  in  a  recent  proceeding  before  the  criminal  court  of 
this  district,  the  attorney-general  of  the  United  States  pronounced  his 
official  opinion  that  the  Rebellion  is  still  existing.  With  these  very  clear  in 
dications  of  the  view  taken  by  the  government,  I  submit  that  this  court 
should  proceed  with  the  trial  of  the  prisoner,  overruling  the  plea. 

Let  me,  however,  illustrate  the  great  danger  there  would  be  in  giving  to  the 
agreement  cited  the  latitude  of  construction  insisted  upon  by  counsel.  Sup 
pose  that  a  private  soldier  of  General  Johnston's  army  had  been  the  chief 
actor  in  the  conspiracy  which  resulted  in  the  assassination  of  the  late  Presi 
dent,  (and  I  believe  that  one  of  the  conspirators  was  shown  to  have  been  a 
rebel  soldier,)  and  that  having  accomplished  his  purpose — having  deprived 
the  nation  of  its  leader,  and  the  army  of  its  commander-in-chief — he  had 
escaped,  and  returned,  as  he  might  have  done,  to  General  Johnston's  army  in 


FACTS  AND  RESULTS  OF  TEIAL.  41 

time  to  be  included  in  the  terms  of  surrender;  is  it  to  be  supposed  that  the 
terms  of  that  capitulation  would  exempt  the  assassin  from  apprehension  and 
trial  for  his  atrocious  crime?  With  just  as  little  reason  does  the  prisoner 
now  before  this  court  claim  exemption  from  trial  on  the  charges  here  pre 
ferred.  He  is  charged  with  having  engaged  in  wholesale  murder,  by  starva 
tion  and  other  inhuman  treatment,  such  as  will  shock  the  moral  sensibilities 
of  the  civilized  world — crimes  of  which  neither  General  Sherman  nor  the 
President,  at  the  time  of  the  agreement  cited,  could  have  had  any  knowledge, 
and  which  could  not  therefore  have  been  condoned  by  that  agreement.  And 
is  it  now  to  be  said,  when  these  atrocities  have  been  fully  brought  to  light 
since  the  date  of  the  agreement,  that  the  perpetrator  of  them  is  to  be  dis 
charged  from  custody,  and  allowed  to  take  his  place  again  in  society,  with  the 
right  to  demand  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  the  country?  The  proposition 
is  too  monstrous  for  serious  consideration. 

The  most  that  could,  with  any  plausibility,  be  claimed  is  that  all  acts  of 
war  committed  by  this  prisoner  as  a  belligerent  and  coming  within  the  usages 
of  civilized  warfare  may  be  considered  as  pardoned,  but  it  cannot  be  admitted 
for  one  moment  that  anything  short  of  a  special  pardon  by  the  president  of 
the  United  States,  setting  forth  precisely' the  offences  pardoned,  can  give 
exemption  from  trial  for  acts  in  violation  of  the  laws  and  customs  of  civilized 
warfare,  especially  when  they  involve  crimes  so  enormous  and  atrocious  as 
those  charged  upon  the  prisoner  here  arraigned. 

Mr.  BAKER  said,  that,  in  the  first  place,  the  court  must  consider  the  fact  that 
the  prisoner  was  until  recently  an  humble  servant  of  the  so-called'  "southern 
confederacy";  and  it  was  in  that  capacity  that  he  had  charge  of  the  Union 
prisoners. 

It  must  be  considered  also  that  the  prisoner  is  before  the  court  not  as  a  con 
victed  criminal,  but  simply  as  a  person  charged  with  crime.  It  is  not  to  be 
assumed  that  he  is  guilty  of  the  atrocious  acts  cited  by  the  judge  advocate — 
acts  which  may  never  be  proved,  and  which,  in  the  opinion  of  counsel,  would 
never  be  proved. 

The  prisoner  had  been  simply  one  of  the  instruments  of  an  atrocious  rebel 
lion;  and  would  any  member  of  the  court  maintain  that  any  lieutenant,  or 
colonel,  or  major-general  in  the  United  States  service  should  be  held  account 
able  for  every  murder  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  committed  in  his 
command  (unknown  perhaps  to  him),  during  the  last  four  years?  Counsel 
was  ready  to  admit  that  if  the  prisoner  were  guilty  of  one-half  the  crimes 
charged  upon  him,  he  should  suffer  at  the  hands  of  a  proper  tribunal  the 
penalty  of  the  law. 

The  prisoner,  if  counsel  had  been  correctly  informed,  had  been  invited  to 
come  within  the  Union  lines,  under  a  promise  that  he  should  have  a  safe  con 
duct  going  and  returning.  His  arrest,  under  such  circumstances,  was  a  viola 
tion  of  good  faith  and  of  the  laws  and  usages  of  civilized  war.  The  judge 
advocate  had  said  that  a  commanding  general  had  the  right  to  revoke  or  set 
aside  his  own  orders  at  any  time;  but  would  this  court  consider  that  a  major- 
general  in  the  service  of  the  United  States  would  be  deserving  of  his  stars,  if 
he  should  entice  within  his  lines  an  humble  servant  of  the  so-called  "con 
federacy,"  under  a  promise  that  he  should  be  allowed  , to  return  safely,  and 


42  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

should  then,  in  violation  of  that  promise,  hold  him  as  a  prisoner  and  try  him 
for  murder?  Surely  the  position  of  the  judge  advocate  could  not  be  sustained 
by  any  authorities  which  would  be  recognized  by  this  court;  therefore  this 
prisoner  is  now  held  wrongfully. 

As  to  the  judge  advocate's  illustration  of  a  criminal  committed  by  a  magis 
trate,  in  violation  of  a  promise,  the  case  was  not  analogous  to  the  one  here 
presented,  because,  in  the  first  place,  a  magistrate  would  have  no  authority  to 
make  such  a  promise,  and,  in  the  second  place,  he  would  have  no  right  to 
discharge  a  criminal  brought  before  him.  But  a  commanding  general,  under 
the  circumstances  cited  in  the  plea,  would  have  the  right  to  make  a  promise 
of  the  kind  described,  and  when  made,  it  would  be  his  right  and  his  duty  to 
keep  it. 

As  to  the  plea  alleging  the  unconstitutionality  of  the  present  proceeding,  on 
the  ground  that  the  prisoner  has  already  been  once  arraigned  and  has 
pleaded,  counsel  did  not  deem  it  necessary  to  consume  time  in  discussion  of 
that  question.  Nor  would  he  prolong  the  argument  on  the  motion  to  quash 
the  charges  and  specifications,  as  he  had  had  no  time  to  examine  them 
critically.  He  would  leave  the  decision  of  the  question  to  the  discretion  of 
the  court. 

The  court  was  cleared  for  deliberation;  and  when  the  doors  were 
reopened,  the  decision  of  the  court  was  announced,  sustaining  the 
motion  of  the  judge  advocate. 

The  prisoner  then  pleaded  not  guilty  to  each  of  the  several  charges 
and  specifications. 

The  following  rules,  adopted  by  the  commission  for  the  govern 
ment  of  its  proceedings,  were  read : 

I.  The  commission  will  hold  its  sessions  in  the  following  hours:     Convene 
at  10  a.  m.,  sit  till  1  p.  m.,  and  then  take  a  recess  of  one  hour.      Resume 
business  at  2  p.  m. 

II.  The  prisoner  will  be  allowed  counsel,  who  shall  file  evidence  of  having 
taken  the  oath  prescribed  by  act  of  Congress,  or  shall  take  said  oath  before 
being  admitted  to  appear  in  the  case. 

III.  The  examination  of  witnesses  shall  be  conducted,  on  the  part  of  the 
government,  by  one  judge  advocate,  and  by  one  counsel  on  the  part  of  the 
prisoner. 

IV.  The  testimony  shall  be  taken  in  shorthand  by  reporters,  who  shall  first 
take  an  oath  to  record  the  evidence  faithfully  and  truly,  and  not  to  communi 
cate  the  same,  or  any  part  thereof,  or  any  proceedings  on  the  trial,  except  by 
authority  of  the  presiding  officer. 

V.  The  argument  of  any  motion  will,  unless  otherwise  ordered  by  the  court, 
be  limited  to  five  minutes,  by  one  judge  advocate,  and  one  counsel  on  behalf  of 
the  prisoner.      Objections  to  the  testimony  will  be  noted  on  the  record  and 
decided  upon  argument,  limited  as  above,  on  motion.     When  the  testimony  is 
closed,  the  case  will  be  summed  up  by  one  counsel  for  the  defence,  and  the 
argument  shall  be  closed  by  the  judge  advocate. 


THE  PICTURE  OF  THE  WIRZ  MONUMENT,  THE  Two  PICTURES  OF  CAPTAIN  WIRZ  AND 

THE  PICTURE  OF  JEFFERSON  DAVIS  AT  THE  BOTTOM  OF  THE  GROUP  WERE  TAKEN 

FROM  THE  "CONFEDERATE  VETERAN,"  PUBLISHED  AT  NASHVILLE,   TENN. 


44  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

VI.  The  lieutenant  in  charge  of  the  guard  will  have  the  prisoner  in  attend 
ance  during  the  trial,  and  be  responsible  for  his  security.     Counsel  may  have 
access  to  him  in  the  presence  but  not  in  the  hearing  of  the  guard. 

VII.  The  counsel  for  the  prisoner  will  immediately  furnish  the  judge  advo 
cate  with  a  list  of  the  witnesses  required  for  the  defence,  whose  attendance 
will  be  procured  in  the  usual  manner. 

As  we  have  seen,  it  was  claimed  at  the  trial  that  Wirz  was  arrested 
and  tried  in  violation  of  his  parole,  and  this  alleged  fact,  too,  is  made 
the  subject  of  one  of  the  tablets  on  the  Wirz  monument.  His  counsel 
submitted  no  evidence  in  support  of  his  plea.  The  Judge  Advocate, 
unwilling  to  allow  so  grave  a  matter  to  pass  without  a  record  of  the 
facts  being  made,  submitted  the  proofs  which  here  follow : 

TESTIMONY   OF    MARK   D.    ROBINSON. 

Am  employed  as  a  clerk  to  this  commission.  The  first  time  I  met  Captain 
Wirz  was  last  Sunday,  at  the  Old  Capitol  Prison. 

[A  letter,  dated  Andersonville,  Georgia,  May  7,  1865,  signed  "Hy.  Wirz, 
captain  C.  S.  A.,"  was  here  handed  to  witness.] 

I  have  seen  that  document.  I  showed  it  to  him  at  that  interview  and  asked 
him  if  that  was  the  letter  which  he  had  written  to  General  Wilson,  or  a  copy. 
He  said  that  it  was  the  letter  which  he  had  sent;  and  he  went  on  to  explain 
that  he  wrote  a  letter  and  had  it  copied;  that  that  was  the  copy,  and  that  he 
sent  it  instead  of  sending  the  original.  He  said  that  was  the  letter  that  was 
sent  at  his  direction.  The  prisoner  did  not  read  all  of  the  letter;  he  sketched 
over  it  pretty  carefully.  I  requested  him  three  times  to  read  it,  so  as  to  be 
sure. 

[The  judge  advocate  offered  the  letter  in  evidence.  Counsel  for  the  accused 
objected  to  its  reception,  on  the  ground  that  the  original  document  must  be 
produced  or  its  absence  satisfactorily  accounted  for,  and  that  the  evidence 
showed  this  letter  to  be  a  copy.  The  court  overruled  the  objection.  The 
following  letter  was  then  read  and  put  in  evidence: ]i 

ANDERSONVILLE,  GA.,  May  7,  1865. 

GENERAL:  It  is  with  great  reluctance  that  I  address  you  these  lines,  being 
fully  aware  how  little  time  is  left  you  to  attend  to  such  matters  as  I  now  have 
the  honor  to  lay  before  you,  and  if  I  could  see  any  other  way  to  accomplish 
my  object  I  would  not  intrude  upon  you.  I  am  a  native  of  Switzerland,  and 
was  before  the  war  a  citizen  of  Louisiana,  and  by  profession  a  physician.  Like 
hundreds  and  thousands  of  others,  I  was  carried  away  by  the  maelstrom  of 
excitement  and  joined  the  southern  army.  I  was  very  seriously  wounded  at 
the  battle  of  "Seven  Pines,"  near  Richmond,  Virginia,  and  have  nearly  lost  the 
use  of  my  right  arm.  Unfit  for  field  duty,  I  was  ordered  to  report  to  Brevet 
Major-General  John  H.  Winder,  in  charge  of  federal  prisoners  of  war,  who 
ordered  me  to  take  charge  of  a  prison  in  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama.  My  health 
failing  me,  I  applied  for  a  furlough  and  went  to  Europe,  from  whence  I  re 
turned  in  February,  1864.  I  was  then  ordered  to  report  to  the  commandant 
of  the  military  prison  at  Andersonville,  Georgia,  who  assigned  me  to  the  com- 


1  Record,  p.   17  et  seq. 


FACTS  AND  RESULTS  OF  TEIAL.  45 

mand  of  the  interior  of  the  prison.  The  duties  I  had  to  perform  were  ardu 
ous  and  unpleasant,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  no  man  can  or  will  justly  blame 
me  for  things  that  happened  here,  and  which  were  beyond  my  power  to  con 
trol.  I  do  not  think  that  I  ought  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  shortness  of 
rations,  for  the  overcrowded  state  of  the  prison,  (which  was  of  itself  a  prolific 
source  of  fearful  mortality,)  for  the  inadequate  supplies  of  clothing,  want  of 
shelter,  &c.,  &c.  Still  I  now  bear  the  odium,  and  men  who  were  prisoners 
have  seemed  disposed  to  wreak  their  vengeance  upon  me  for  what  they  have 
suffered — I,  who  was  only  the  medium,  or,  I  may  better  say,  the  tool  in  the 
hands  of  my  superiors.  This  is  my  condition.  I  am  a  man  with  a  family.  I 
lost  all  my  property  when  the  Federal  army  besieged  Vicksburg.  I  have  no 
money  at  present  to  go  to  any  place,  and,  even  if  I  had,  I  know  of  no  place 
where  I  can  go.  My  life  is  in  danger,  and  I  most  respectfully  ask  of  you  help 
and  relief.  If  you  will  be  so  generous  as  to  give  me  some  sort  of  a  safe  con 
duct,  or,  what  I  should  greatly  prefer,  a  guard  to  protect  myself  and  family 
against  violence,  I  should  be  thankful  to  you;  and  you  may  rest  assured  that 
your  protection  will  not  be  given  to  one  who  is  unworthy  of  it.  My  intention 
is  to  return  with  my  family  to  Europe,  as  soon  as  I  can  make  the  arrange 
ments.  In  the  mean  time  I  have  the  honor,  general,  to  remain,  very  respect 
fully,  your  obedient  servant,  HY.  WIRZ,  Captain  C.  S.  A. 
Major-General  J.  H.  WILSON,  U.  S.  A., 

Commanding  Macon,  Georgia. 

Cross-examined  by  counsel: 

The  prisoner  was  in  the  Old  Capitol  Prison  when  I  had  this  conversation 
with  him.  I  was  sent  there  to  serve  on  him  a  copy  of  the  charges  and  specifi 
cations  last  Sunday  afternoon.  I  took  the  letter  there  to  ascertain  if  it  was  a 
copy  of  the  original.  The  judge  advocate  gave  it  to  me.  The  prisoner  did  not 
read  all  of  the  letter;  he  just  sketched  over  it  very  carefully.  By  that  I  mean 
he  would  read  a  few  lines,  and  then  skip  a  few  lines.  I  supposed  he  was  read 
ing  it;  he  looked  at  it,  but  did  not  read  it  aloud.  I  cannot  swear  positively 
that  he  did  anything  more  than  simply  look  at  it;  but  to  the  best  of  my 
knowledge  I  think  he  read  parts  of  it. 

TESTIMONY  OF  CAPTAIN  HENRY  E.  NOYES. 

Am  captain,  United  States  cavalry,  aide-de-camp  to  Major-General  Wilson. 
[The  letter  of  Wirz  to  General  Wilson  was  here  handed  to  the  witness.] 
I  have  seen  it  before  at  the  headquarters  of  General  Wilson.      It  did  not 
come  to  those  headquarters  in  regular  course  of  mail.      An  officer  was  sent 
from  headquarters  to  Andersonville,  and  he  brought  back  this  paper,  which 
was  found  among  the  papers  of  Captain  Wirz's  office.     This  is  the  signature 
of  General  Wilson  on  the  indorsement. 

The  JUDGE  ADVOCATE  stated  that  he  had  recalled  the  witness  for  the  pur 
pose  of  examining  him  as  to  a  matter  set  out  in  a  plea  filed  by  the  counsel 
who  first  appeared  for  the  defence,  and  reiterated  by  the  counsel  who  now 
represented  the  accused:  that  was  the  allegation  that  the  government  had 
pledged  its  faith  to  the  prisoner  that  he  should  not  be  prosecuted  nor  injured 
if  he  would  go  to  Macon,  to  General  Wilson's  headquarters.  He  (the  judge 
advocate)  wished  to  explode  that  idea  now,  and  that  was  his  only  purpose 
in  calling  the  witness. 


46  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

The  WITNESS.  I  was  on  duty  at  Macon  from  the  20th  of  April,  1865,  till 
about  the  20th  of  May,  when  I  came  to  Washington  with  Captain  Wirz  and 
the  records  of  the  Andersonville  Prison.  I  returned  to  Macon,  arriving  there 
in  July,  and  I  have  come  back  here  in  answer  to  a  subpoena. 

About  the  first  or  second  of  May,  1865,  I  was  ordered  by  General  Wilson  to 
Alabama  to  take  the  news  of  the  repudiation  of  the  Sherman  armistice  to 
our  forces  in  Alabama,  the  nearest  command  being  that  of  General  Grierson, 
at  Eufaula.1  On  my  way  there  I  passed  through  Andersonville,  where  the 
train,  a  special  one,  stopped  to  wood  and  water.  I  got  out  of  the  train  there 
and  walked  around.  I  noticed  a  crowd  collected,  and  saw  a  number  of  our 
men  who  had  been  prisoners  there,  very  sick.  They  were  evidently  preparing 
to  go  to  Macon,  where  General  Wilson  had  ordered  all  the  sick  to  be  brought. 
I  saw  a  number  of  officers  and  soldiers  in  confederate  uniform,  some  of  them 
appearing  to  have  authority.  Two  or  three  of  them  had  pieces  of  paper 
which  they  were  presenting  to  the  sick  men  to  sign.  That  first  attracted  my 
attention  casually.  Finally  I  got  upon  the  train,  and,  as  it  was  about  to 
start,  I  heard  a  remark  that  attracted  my  attention.  It  was  to  this  effect: 
"Hurry  up  and  sign  these  paroles,  or  you'll  die  here  anyhow."  I  looked  out 
of  the  window  and  saw  Captain  Wirz.  I  could  not  swear  that  he  made  the 
remark  which  I  heard,  but  I  have  heard  his  voice  since,  and  I  think  it  was 
his  voice.  As  neither  Captain  Wirz  nor  anybody  at  Andersonville  could 
have  known  that  the  armistice  was  repudiated,  and  as  it  was  evident  that 
they  were  paroling  our  sick  men,  I  was  on  the  point  of  getting  out  of  the 
cars  to  remonstrate  on  the  subject,  when  the  whistle  blew  and  the  train 
started  off.  The  sick  men  there  were  mostly  so  sick  that  they  had  to  have 
men  supporting  them  on  each  side.  Very  few  of  them,  if  any,  could  write 
their  names,  but  simply  touched  the  pen  as  the  paper  was  presented  to  them. 

When  I  got  back  to  Macon,  I  reported  to  General  Wilson  what  I  had  seen, 
who  told  me  I  must  go  there  again  and  arrest  Captain  Wirz.  I  left  that  day 
or  the  next,  about  the  6th  of  May,  and  took  a  party  of  men  with  me.  As  I 
had  to  stay  over  night,  and  as  there  were  no  accommodations  at  Anderson 
ville,  I  went  on  to  Americus,  about  ten  miles  beyond,  where  I  remained  over 
night,  coming  back  to  Andersonville  on  a  freight  train  next  morning.  There 
I  accomplished  my  mission,  that  is,  I  arrested  Captain  Wirz,  and  gathered 
together  all  the  records  which  I  thought  important,  excepting  the  hospital 
records.  These  I  did  not  take  because  Dr.  Roy  said  they  were  not  yet 
complete,  and  that  if  I  would  send  him  down  some  clerks  he  would  see  that 
they  were  completed.  This  I  agreed  to  do. 

The  immediate  circumstances  of  Captain  Wirz's  arrest  were  these:  I  went 
to  his  house  and  saw  him  there;  the  family  were  about  him,  that  is,  his  wife 
and  two  daughters.  It  is  a  very  hard  thing  to  take  a  man  from  his  family, 
and  particularly  so  in  that  case,  as  Mrs.  Wirz  and  one  of  the  daughters  at 
least  were  crying  and  having  considerable  trouble.  To  pacify  them  and  to 
do  the  thing  as  quietly  as  I  could,  I  told  Mrs.  Wirz,  and  also  told  the  captain, 
that  they  need  not  distress  themselves  at  all;  that  on  his  arrival  at  Macon, 
if  General  Wilson  was  satisfied  that  he  had  done  no  more  than  his  duty,  and 


1  This  is  the  Sherman- Johnston  convention  referred  to  in  the  prisoner's  plea. 


FACTS  AND  EESULTS  OF  TEIAL.  47 

had  simply  acted  in  accordance  with  his  orders,  he  would  probably  be 
released.  That  was  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  conversation.  General 
Wilson  did  not  direct  me  to  make  any  promise  to  the  -prisoner,  or  to  give 
him  any  safe  conduct,  and  I  do  not  consider  that  I  did. 

He  was  conveyed  to  Macon  under  guard,  and  remained  there  under  guard; 
he  was  not  on  parole  at  all.  I  have  no  doubt  that  my  conversation  might 
have  been  construed,  by  those  who  were  very  anxious  that  it  should  be  so, 
into  a  promise  that  he  would  be  returned,  but  I  had  no  doubt  in  my  mind 
that  General  Wilson  would  hold  him  as  a  prisoner.  I  intended  to  convey  to 
him  no  promise  of  safe  return,  but  merely  intended  to  pacify  his  family  and 
himself;  he  was  very  much  excited.  These  are  all  the  circumstances  which 
I  remember,  particularly  connected  with  the  arrest. 

He  remained  under  our  headquarter  guard  until  about  the  20th  of  May, 
when  I  was  ordered  to  convey  him  to  Washington,  with  all  the  Andersonville 
records,  including  the  hospital  records,  which  General  Wilson  had  sent  an 
officer  for,  and  the  flags  which  General  Wilson  had  captured  in  his  campaign 
through  Alabama  and  Georgia.  I  had  trouble  all  the  way  till  we  came  north 
of  the  Ohio  River,  on  account  of  our  men  who  had  been  at  Andersonville 
recognizing  the  prisoner.  I  have  read  in  the  newspapers  that  I  endangered 
my  life  to  protect  him.  There  is  a  misconception  on  that  point,  but  I  do  not 
think  the  prisoner  could  have  got  here  alive  if  there  had  not  been  an  officer 
in  charge  of  the  party.  At  Chattanooga,  where  I  was  stopping  temporarily, 
I  sent  him  to  the  post  prison  to  be  taken  care  of,  as  I  knew  that  outside  of 
that  he  would  collect  a  great  crowd.  He  had  on  good,  fair-looking  con 
federate  clothes,  and  a  hat,  and  was  pretty  decently  dressed  generally. 
When  I  saw  him  again  I  hardly  knew  him;  all  his  clothes  were  stripped  off 
him,  he  had  only  a  part  of  his  hat,  no  coat,  a  very  dirty  shirt,  a  portion  of  a 
pair  of  pants  pretty  badly  torn,  and  shoes.  Whenever  I  got  him  where  there 
were  any  of  our  soldiers  I  had  to  hurry  him  off  and  get  him  under  a  strong 
guard  in  order  to  save  him.  I  had  trouble  in  getting  him  on  board  the  boat 
at  Nashville.  I  think  that  but  for  the  guard  I  had,  and  my  personal  pres 
ence,  they  would  have  taken  hold  of  him  there,  and  if  they  had  got  hold  of 
him  I  do  not  suppose  he  would  ever  have  reached  Washington.  He  wag 
afterwards  disguised. 

At  Louisville  he  still  had  his  extremely  dilapidated  appearance,  which,  if 
there  was  nothing  else,  would  have  attracted  attention.  He  said  that  he 
had  some  friends  there.  Between  those  friends  and  myself  we  succeeded  in 
getting  a  complete  suit  of  black  and  a  beaver  hat.  He  also  had  his  face 
shaved  clean,  which  entirely  altered  his  appearance,  so  much  so  that  we 
were  not  troubled  at  all  after  that.  I  do  not  think  he  was  recognized  after 
that,  although  a  good  many  soldiers  must  have  seen  him,  particularly  at 
Cincinnati. 


The  circumstances  connected  with  the  arrest  of  the  prisoner  were  simply 
these:      On  arriving  at  Macon,  as  a  matter  of  course,  inquiry  was  at  once 

1  Record,  p.  269  et  seq. 


48  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONViLLE. 

made  as  to  the  condition  of  the  Andersonville  Prison,  and  who  were  responsi 
ble  for  its  condition.  I  sent  officers  down  there  to  investigate  the  matter, 
and  among  others  Lieutenant  Rendelbrook,  Fourth  United  States  Cavalry,  and 
one  of  my  staff  officers,  Captain  Noyes,  now  Major  Noyes.  They  made  a  trip 
there  and  returned,  reporting  to  me  that  the  man  Wirz  who  had  been  in 
charge  of  the  prison  was  still  there.  I  immediately  ordered  Noyes  to  return 
to  the  prison,  arrest  him,  and  bring  him  to  Macon.  He  brought  him  to 
Macon,  and  I  do  not  know  how  long  he  was  kept  there;  several  days,  how 
ever.  The  first  party  who  went  to  Andersonville  brought  back  the  paper — 
whether  sent  by  Wirz  or  not  I  do  not  know — which  has  been  produced  in 
court;  a  letter  addressed  to  me  asking  protection,  among  other  things,  on 
which  I  made  an  indorsement  recommending  the  trial  of  Wirz.  Afterwards 
when  he  was  brought  forward  himself  I  simply  remanded  him  to  prison  and 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  secretary  of  war,  requesting  that  he  might  be  brought 
to  trial,  in  order  that  the  matter  might  be  thoroughly  investigated.  No  pro 
tection  was  ever  guaranteed  to  him  by  me.  I  ordered  his  arrest  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  him  to  trial,  and  for  no  other  purpose,  and  with  the 
special  intention  that  he  should  not  have  the  benefit  of  the  amnesty  or 
armistice  between  Sherman  and  Johnston,  so  far  as  I  could  prevent  it. 
[A  paper  was  here  handed  to  witness.]  That  is  the  letter  to  which  I  refer. 
That  is  my  signature  to  the  indorsement.  The  statement  of  the  escaped 
prisoner  referred  to  in  the  indorsement  is  the  statement  of,  I  think,  three 
or  four  men  whom  I  requested  to  make  statements  to  accompany  this  paper, 
with  the  expectation  that  an  investigation  would  be  made. 

Before  sending  for  Captain  Wirz  I  had  no  information  that  he  wanted  my 
protection,  except  that  document  which  came  up  with  the  first  party.  I  had 
received  it  before  I  sent  for  him;  that  is  my  impression;  I  cannot  positively 
say  in  reference  to  it,  however.  I  sent  Captain  Noyes,  now  Major  Noyes,  and 
Lieutenant  Rendelbrook  for  him.  Captain  Noyes  reported  to  me  his  presence 
at  Andersonville,  and  the  fact  that  he  was  generally  believed  to  be  responsible 
for  what  had  been  done  there.  When  I  sent  those  parties  I  had  no  thought 
or  knowledge  that  Captain  Wirz  was  there.  I  had  not  supposed  that  any 
man  who  was  responsible  for  so  much  would  have  stayed.  I  may  have  heard 
there  was  such  a  man  as  Wirz  and  that  he  had  command  of  the  prison,  but 
I  did  not  think  of  it  then.  My  object  in  sending  the  first  time  was  to  in 
vestigate  matters  connected  with  the  Andersonville  Prison,  and  the  atrocities 
alleged  to  have  been  perpetrated  there.  As  a  matter  of  course  if  Captain 
Wirz,  or  anybody  else,  was  there,  they  were  one  of  the  principal  objects 
aimed  at,  though  not  specified  in  my  orders  to  the  officers  or  in  my  own  mind. 
I  cannot  remember  what  they  reported  to  me  about  Captain  Wirz  when  they 
returned,  more  than  that  he  was  there,  and  that  sick  and  wounded  soldiers, 
of  whom  there  were  some  two  hundred,  and  some  of  whom  had  been  brought 
up,  had  sworn  that  he  was  the  author  of  their  condition  and  their  misery. 
He  was  living  there;  I  do  not  know  if  it  was  in  a  house.  There  were  Union 
prisoners  there.  There  were  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  shadows  of  soldiers, 
men  who  could  not  possibly  have  been  moved  without  endangering  their 
lives.  A  great  many  of  those  men  died  after  they  were  brought  to  my 


FACTS  AND  EESULTS  OF  TRIAL.  49 

hospitals.  My  impression  is  that  the  letter  was  brought  by  Lieutenant 
Rendelbrook;  it  was  brought  by  the  party  who  went  down.  The  letter, 
together  with  the  representations  of  the  officers  that  he  was  there,  and  that 
they  believed  he  was  the  responsible  party,  first  called  my  attention  to 
Captain  Wirz.  I  think  the  officers  went  back  very  soon  afterwards.  I  know 
that  I  issued  orders  immediately  for  his  arrest — verbal  instructions  to  Cap 
tain  Noyes.  V. 

Captain  Noyes  when  he  returned  to  me  made  no  report  more  than  that  he 
had  brought  the  man  and  had  him  confined  under  guard.  Captain  Noyes 
spoke  of  the  family  crying  and  expressing  great  fear  that  he  was  going  to 
be  hanged  or  made  away  with.  He  brought  the  books  and  papers  upon  the' 
first  trip;  that  is  my  impression.  Those  books  and  papers  were  sent  by 
Captain  Noyes,  at  the  time  the  prisoner  was  transmitted,  to  the  Adjutant 
General  of  the  United  States  army  at  Washington.  He  brought  me,  I  think, 
a  receipt  for  the  books  and  papers. 

I  did  not  give,  or  cause  to  be  given,  to  the  prisoner  any  assurances  as  an  in 
ducement  for  him  to  deliver  himself  up.  Nor  was  any  such  assurance 
authorized.  The  officer  whom  I  sent  being  an  officer  of  discretion  and 
prompt  obedience,  I  don't  think  he  ever  intended  to  give  the  prisoner  any 
assurances  of  any  kind,  except  that  he  should  not  be  hurt  just  upon  the 
ground  at  the  time.  He  probably  gave  him  some  assurance  of  that  kind, 
that  he  should  not  be  killed  or  handled  roughly,  so  as  to  quiet  his  family. 
That  is  my  interpretation  of  the  whole  matter.  I  know  that  Captain  Noyes 
had  no  jurisdiction  to  give  any  other  sort  of  assurance  of  protection.  His 
simple  object  in  going  there  was  to  arrest  Wirz,  and  we  had  special  instruc 
tions  to  parole  no  person  in  Georgia,  and  to  give  no  protection  to  any  one 
except  from  the  military  authority.  There  were  no  prisoners  paroled  in 
Georgia  except  upon  that  condition.  When  I  had  Captain  Wirz  brought  to 
my  headquarters  I  did  not  offer  him  any  safe  conduct  of  any  kind  in  return 
ing,  except  that  the  guard  were  instructed  to  protect  him  and  deliver  him 
safely  into  such  hands  as  the  secretary  of  war  might  direct.  My  officers 
reported  to  me  that  they  risked  their  own  lives  in  protecting  him.  At 
Chattanooga  he  was  attacked  by  the  troops,  and  but  for  the  personal" inter 
position  of  Captain  Noyes  he  would  have  been  disposed  of.  Captain  Noyes 
disguised  him  in  some  way  or  another  and  managed  to  get  him  through. 

Congress,  on  March  9,  1906  (Stat.  L,  56),  passed  a  law  authorizing 
the  secretary  of  war  to  ascertain  the  location  and  condition  of  all 
the  graves  of  soldiers  of  the  Confederate  army  and  navy,  who  died 
in  Federal  prisons  and  military  hospitals  in  the  North  and  were 
buried  near  their  place  of  confinement,  with  power  to  acquire  and 
control  the  ground. 

The  judge  advocate-general  of  the  army,  on  January  29,  1910, 
made  a  report  on  the  status  of  Captain  Wirz :  That  he  did  not  form 
a  part  of  any  of  the  Confederate  armies  that  surrendered  at  different 
times  between  April  9  and  26,  1865,  as  his  command  was  exercised 


50  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

under  the  direct  control  and  supervision  of  a  bureau  of  the  Confed 
erate  war  department  at  Eichmond.  For  that  reason  he  was  not 
included  in  the  armistice  agreed  upon  between  the  commanding 
generals  of  the  Union  and  Confederate  forces  at  Greensboro,  North 
Carolina,  on  April  26,  1865.  As  the  prison  at  Andersonville  was  not 
an  integral  part  of  General  Johnston's  command,  it  was  the  opinion 
of  the  judge  advocate-general,  that  Captain  Wirz  was  not  included 
within  the  operation  of  the  clause  of  that  agreement  requiring  each 
officer  and  man  to  give  his  individual  obligation  in  writing  not  to  take 
up  arms  against  the  government.  As  Captain  Wirz  did  not  die  in  a 
prison  camp  or  hospital  and  never  occupied  the  status  of  a  prisoner  of 
war,  but- was  executed  in  pursuance  of  the  approved  sentence  of  a 
military  commission,  upon  conviction  of  offenses  in  violation  of  the 
laws  of  war,  and  as  his  remains  were  given  decent  burial,  the  opinion 
held  that  his  case  is  not  within  the  operation  of  the  statute  of  March 
9,  1906. 

It  further  appears,  that  his  body  was  interred  by  the  side  of  Atze- 
rodt  *  in  the  arsenal  grounds  of  Washington  City ;  that  his  remains 
were  subsequently  removed,  under  cimcumstances  not  known  to  the  de 
partment,  to  the  Olivet  Cemetery,2  where  they  now  rest,  the  grave 
being  marked  by  a  small  marble  block  inscribed  with  the  name  Wirz 
on  the  upper  face. 


1  One  of  President  Lincoln's  assassins. 

2  Near  Washington  City. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

LOCATION  OF  ANDERSONVILLE  PRISON — DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  PRISON  PEN — WIRZ 
ASSIGNED  TO  ITS  COMMAND — EARLY  CONDITION  OF  THE  PRISONERS  DEPLORABLE 
OFFICIAL  EEPORTS  OF  EEBEL  OFFICERS — INJUNCTION  TO  ABATE  PRISON  AS  A 
NUISANCE  BECAUSE  OF  Noxious  ODORS — UPON  WHOM  RESTED  RESPONSIBILITY 
OF — ORIGIN  OF  DEAD  LINE — REBEL  AUTHORITIES  AT  RICHMOND  INFORMED — 
MORTALITY  INCREASED — IN  ONE  MONTH  2,993  DIED. 

TO  give  an  adequate  description  of  the  prison  pen  and  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  unhappy  inmates  during  the  fatal  summer  of  1864 
would  be  impossible.  The  evidence  to  which  the  reader's  attention  will 
first  be  directed  will,  in  large  degree,  be  taken  from  the  reports  and 
testimony  of  those  least  likely  to  exaggerate, — namely,  those  in  the 
service  of  the  Confederacy.  The  issues  were  clearly  drawn  by  Mr. 
Davis,  and  have  been  reopened  and  reasserted  by  the  inscriptions  placed 
on  the  Wirz  monument,  that  the  sufferings  of  Union  prisoners  at 
Andersonville  were  not  unusual,  nor,  such  as  they  were,  were  they  pre 
ventable,  and  that  no  criminal  liability  attached  to  any  one  for  the 
management  of  the  prison.  It  may  be  confidently  asserted  that  the  case 
of  the  prosecution  will  find  ample  support  of  the  general  charges  of 
conspiracy,  in  the  evidence  solely  furnished  by  those  who  were  in  the 
rebel  service.  The  testimony  of  the  surviving  prisoners  in  their  de 
scription  of  the  horrors  through  which  they  passed  will  be  found  to  be 
confirmed  and  corroborated  by  those  who  either  purposely  or  unavoid 
ably  were  compelled  by  the  fate  of  war  to  become  witnesses  to,  or  were 
participators  in,  the  crime  unfolded  at  the  trial. 

The  stockade  at  Andersonville  was  originally  built  in  the  winter  of 
1863-4,  and  was  first  occupied  by  prisoners  in  the  latter  part  of  Feb 
ruary,  1864.  It  was  intended  to  have  a  capacity  for  10,000  prisoners 
and  contained  about  eighteen  acres.  It  continued  without  enlargement 
until  June  18,  1864,  when  it  contained  22,000  prisoners.  It  was  then 
increased  about  one-third,  its  actual  inner  area  being  about  twenty-four 
acres.  The  following  description  of  the  prison  pen  is  given  by  Dr. 
Joseph  Jones,  an  ex-surgeon  of  the  rebel  army,  and  to  whom  Mr.  Davis 
refers  in  his  Belford  articles  as  eminent  in  his  profession  and  of  great 
learning  and  probity.  He  made  an  official  report  to  Surgeon-General 
Moore,  which  was  produced  in  evidence  and  identified  by  Dr.  Jones 


52  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

himself,  who  was  a  witness.  This  report  will  follow  in  a  subsequent 
chapter,  as  furnishing  indubitable  proof  of  conditions  at  Andersonville. 
He  thus  described  the  enclosure: 

The  stockade  was  in  the  form  of  a  parallelogram  20  feet  high,  formed  of  strong 
pine  logs  firmly  planted  in  the  ground,  with  two  small  stockades  surrounding  the 
prison — one  sixteen,  the  other  twelve,  feet  high,  these  latter  being  intended  for 
offense  and  defense.  If  the  inner  stockade  should  at  any  time  be  forced  by  the 
prisoners,  the  second  proved  another  line  of  defense,  while  in  case  of  an  attempt 
to  deliver  the  prisoners  by  a  force  operating  upon  the  exterior,  the  outer  line 
forms  an  admirable  protection  to  the  Confederate  troops,  and  a  most  formidable 
obstacle  to  cavalry  or  infantry.  Earthworks  on  eminences  surmounted  by  cannon 
swept  the  entire  enclosure.* 

Colonel  D.  T.  Chandler,  to  whom  reference  has  already  been  made, 
in  his  report,  which  will  also  be  given,  further  described  the  interior  :2 

A  railing  around  the  inside  of  the  stockade  about  twenty  feet  from  it  con 
stitutes  the  dead-line,  beyond  which  prisoners  are  not  allowed  to  pass.  A  small 
stream  passes  from  west  to  east  through  the  enclosure  and  furnishes  the  only 
water  for  washing  accessible  to  the  prisoners.  Bordering  this  stream,  about 
three  and  one-quarter  acres  near  the  center  of  the  enclosure  are  so  marshy  as  to  be 
at  present  [August,  1864]  unfit  for  occupation,  reducing  the  available  area  to  about 
twenty-three  and  one-half  acres,  which  gives  somewhat  less  than  six  square  feet 
to  each  prisoner,  there  being  scarcely  room  enough  for  all  the  prisoners  to  lie  down 
at  the  same  time. 

The  interior  was  entirely  denuded  of  trees  or  other  shelter,  and  no 
barracks  or  buildings  of  any  kind  placed  inside.  It  was  simply  a  large 
human  corral  into  which  prisoners  were  turned  like  so  many  cattle,  and, 
as  we  shall  see,  without  the  care  or  attention  ordinarily  given  to  domes 
tic  animals. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  Alexander  W.  Persons,  55th  Georgia  Volunteers, 
was  assigned  to  command  the  troops  at  Andersonville  Prison  some  time 
in  February,  1864,  and  remained  until  some  time  in  May.  His  testi 
mony  relates  to  the  inception  of  the  prison,  bears  upon  its  origin  and 
early  conditions,  and  approximates  the  date  of  Wirz's  command  there. 

TESTIMONY  OF  LT.-COL.   ALEXANDER  W.   PERSONS.3 

I  have  been  employed  for  the  last  four  or  five  years  in  the  Confederate  States 
army.  I  was  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  55th  Georgia  Volunteers.  I  was  on  duty 
at  Andersonville  from  some  time  in  February,  1864,  till  about  the  last  of  May, 
1864.  I  was  sent  there  to  command  the  troops.  Subsequently  I  was  advanced 

1  Record,  p.  620. 
3  Record,  p.  224. 
3  Record,  p.  99  et  seq. 


THE  PEISON  PEN  AND  ITS  COMMANDEE.  53 

to  the  command  of  the  post  and  remained  in  the  character  of  post  commander 
until  I  was  relieved — which  was  some  time  in  May  or  June.  Directly  after  my 
command  was  captured  at  Cumberland  Gap,  I  went  to  Kichmond  and  reported 
directly  to  the  secretary  of  war  for  duty.  He  gave  me  instructions  to  report  to  Gen 
eral  Winder.  General  Winder  instructed  me  to  report  at  Andersonville.  He  stated 
that  at  that  post  there  were  three  separate  and  distinct  departments ;  one  was  known 
as  the  officer  commanding  the  troops,  another  as  the  officer  commanding  the  prison, 
the  other  as  the  officer  commanding  the  post.  He  assigned  me  to  duty  as  the  officer 
commanding  the  troops.  I  think  there  was  no  prison  officer  there  when  I  first  went 
there.  The  first  prison  commander  proper  was  Captain  Wirz.  He  assumed  control 
of  the  prison  the  latter  part  of  February  or  some  time  in  March,  1864.  He  came 
direct  from  Richmond,  my  understanding  was,  by  order  of  General  Winder.  I 
saw  an  official  order  to  that  effect.  I  received  a  communication  about  the  time 
Captain  Wirz  reached  there;  whether  he  brought  the  communication  or  not,  I  do 
not  know;  I  received  it  by  hand  about  the  time  he  came.  That  communication 
was  from  General  Winder. 

The  letter  merely  stated  that  Captain  Wirz  was  an  old  prison  officer,  a  very 
reliable  man  and  capable  of  governing  prisons,  (that  is  about  the  substance  of  it,) 
and  it  wound  up  by  saying  that  I  could  give  him  command  of  the  prison  proper. 
I  don't  recollect  the  date;  it  was  the  last  of  February,  I  think,  or  about  the  1st 
of  March — not  later  than  the  middle  of  March.  I  don't  remember  who  was  the 
ranking  officer  in  charge  of  the  guards  and  sentinels  on  duty  at  that  time;  he 
was  perhaps  a  captain  of  my  regiment.  The  control  of  the  prison  and  prison- 
guards  was  assumed  by  Captain  Wirz  pretty  soon  after  he  reported.  Captain  Wirz 
had  control  of  the  sentinels  after  they  were  put  on  duty — after  guard-mounting. 
Under  the  instructions  I  had,  a  requisition  was  made  upon  me  for  troops  to  guard 
the  prison.  J  was  under  instructions  to  make  an  order  or  requisition  upon  the 
officer  commanding  the  troops  for  the  number  required  by  the  officer  commanding 
the  prison.  They  were  then  immediately  detailed;  guard-mounting  was  gone 
through  with  and  they  were  ordered  to  the  prison,  where  Captain  Wirz,  command 
ing  the  prison,  had  jurisdiction  and  control  of  them.  He  had  control  of  the 
prison,  and  of  the  guards  after  they  passed  into  his  hands.  That  continued  to  be 
the  rule  while  I  was  there. 

The  prison  was  laid  out  by  Captain  W.  Sidney  Winder,  by  order  of  General 
Winder.  The  original  capacity  of  the  prison  was  for  ten  thousand;  so  he  told 
me.  I  reached  there  just  before  they  completed  the  work  on  the  prison;  they 
had  one-half  of  a  side  to  finish  when  I  reached  there.  I  suppose  they  had  some 
fifteen  or  twenty  negroes  at  work  there.  I  know  the  stream  that  passes  through  the 
stockade,  above  and  below  the  stockade.  About  one  to  three  miles  from  there 
there  is  a  stream  five  or  six  times  the  size  of  the  stream  upon  which  the  prison  is 
located.  It  occurred  to  me  that  that  would  have  been  a  preferable  place  to  the 
one  where  the  prison  was  located.  I  suggested  that  to  W.  S.  Winder — I  believe  I 
recollect  distinctly  that  it  was  one  of  the  Winders — about  the  time  I  went  there — 
about  the  time  the  prison  was  built.  W.  S.  Winder  told  me  that  he  had  absolute 
discretion  in  the  location  of  the  prison;  that  he  examined  a  great  many  places  in 
southwestern  Georgia. 


54  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVIKLE. 

I  knew  General  Winder;  he  relieved  me,  I  think,  some  time  about  the  last  of 
May  or  1st  of  June.  He  was,  as  I  understand,  in  command  of  all  the  prisoners; 
had  control  over  everything.  W.  S.  Winder  was  a  son  of  General  John  H.  Winder. 
I  knew  Richard  B.  Winder;  he  was  a  quartermaster  at  that  prison.  He  had 
the  duty  of  quartermaster,  such  as  furnishing  transportation.  I  think  the  bake 
house  was  under  him;  also  the  furnishing  of  fuel;  all  the  duties  devolving  upon 
a  quartermaster  fell  to  him.  The  Winders  seemed  to  act  in  concert;  they  worked 
together. 

While  there  I  took  steps  to  erect  shelter  for  the  prisoners  inside  the  stockade. 
When  I  was  there,  the  railroad  upon  which  the  prison  was  located  was  worked  to 
its  greatest  possible  capacity  in  feeding  Lee's  and  Johnston's  armies,  and  it  was 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  I  could  get  transportation  on  that  road.  Perhaps 
in  ten  or  twenty  days  they  would  give  me  one  train.  I  held  constant  communica 
tion  with  the  superintendent  of  the  road,  and  every  time  I  could  get  a  train  I 
would  have  that  train  loaded  with  lumber  and  brought  through.  During  my  stay, 
I  had  concentrated  there,  I  suppose,  about  five  or  six  train-loads  of  lumber.  I 
suppose  there  were  six,  eight,  or  ten  cars  in  a  train.  There  were  altogether  about  fifty 
carloads.  I  was  in  the  act  of  erecting  shelter,  was  just  carrying  the  lumber,  when 
I  was  relieved  by  General  Winder.  He  arrived  there  about  the  same  day  I  was 
relieved.  I  went  into  the  stockade  several  times  after  I  was  relieved  from  duty, 
and  I  saw  no  shelter  there.  I  saw  forty  or  fifty  houses  springing  up  outside  of 
the  grounds.  The  lumber  disappeared  in  that  way.  I  suppose  there  were  between 
fifteen  and  twenty  thousand  prisoners  in  the  stockade  at  the  time  I  was  relieved. 


INJUNCTION    TO    RESTRAIN    THE    REBEL    AUTHORITIES    FROM    CONTINUING 

THE  PRISON. 

Some  time  in  the  latter  part  of  that  summer,  after  he  was  relieved 
from  duty  at  Andersonville,  Colonel  Persons  was  employed  to  bring 
a  bill  for  an  injunction  to  abate  the  nuisance  caused  by  the  prison. 
He  prepared  the  case  for  trial  and  was  on  the  point  of  appearing  before 
the  judge  of  the  district  court,  when  he  received  a  communication 
from  General  Howell  Cobb,  as  to  which  he  testified  r1 

I  was  interested  in  a  proceeding  to  enjoin  the  rebel  authorities  from  further 
continuing  the  prison  at  Andersonville.  In  the  character  of  counsel,  I  drew  a 
bill  for  an  injunction  to  abate  the  nuisance.  The  graveyard  made  it  a  nuisance, 
and  the  military  works,  fortifications,  etc.,  made  it  highly  objectionable  to  the 
property-holders  there,  and  the  prison  generally  was  a  nuisance,  from  the  intol 
erable  stench,  the  effluvia,  the  malaria  that  it  gave  up,  and  things  of  that  sort. 
After  I  drew  the  bill,  I  went  to  see  the  judge  of  the  district  court;  I  read  the 
bill  to  him,  and  asked  him  for  the  injunction.  He  simply  said  that  he  would 
appoint  a  day  on  which  he  would  hear  the  argument  in  chambers.  He  appointed  a 
day;  I  made  preparations  for  trial,  went  down,  or  was  in  the  act  of  going,  when 


1  Record,  p.  101. 


THE  PKISON  PEN  AND  ITS  COMMANDER.  55 

I  received  an  official  communication  from  General  Howell  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  in 
which  he  asked  me  if  I  was  going  to  appear. 

[Mr.  BAKER  objected  to  witness  stating  the  contents  of  the  communication.] 
I  expect  I  destroyed  that  official  correspondence;  I  have  no  recollection 
whether  I  destroyed  it  or  put  it  away.  I  have  not  thought  of  it  since.  General 
Cobb  asked  me  if  that  bill  was  to  be  charged  to  me,  the  bill  against  my  govern 
ment,  as  he  termed  it.  In  reply  to  his  communication,  I  wrote  him  that  I  drew 
the  bill,  and  that  it  could  be  charged  to  me.  He  replied,  through  his  adjutant- 
general,  Major  Harrit,  that  he  deemed  it  inconsistent  with  my  duty  as  a  Con 
federate  officer  to  appear  in  a  case  like  that,  of  a  bill  against  the  government; 
and  he  therefore  ordered  me  out  of  the  case,  and  I  obeyed  the  order.  General 
Cobb  at  that  time  commanded  the  department  of  Georgia  and  the  reserve  force 
of  Georgia.  I  said  that  he  ordered  me  out  of  the  case.  Let  me  be  more  ex 
plicit  on  that  point.  He  wanted  to  know  if  I  drew  the  bill;  I  said  that  I  did;  I 
discovered  by  the  tenor  of  his  communication  that  I  would  be  treated  by 
court-martial,  or  something  of  that  sort,  and,  to  stave  the  matter  off,  I  said  to 
him  that  if  he  deemed  what  I  had  done  in  the  matter  unofficerlike,  I  would  retire 
from  the  case.  He  said  he  did  deem  it  that  way,  and  would  be  glad  if  I  would 
retire  without  being  driven  from  it. 

UPON  WHOM  THE  RESPONSIBILITY  FOR  OVERCROWDING  THE  PRISON  RESTS. 

Of  the  conditions  which  led  to  the  attempt  to  abate  the  nuisance, 
Colonel  Persons  testified : 

That  camp  was  a  nuisance  to  all  intents  and  purposes.  The  first  reason  was 
that  the  dead  were  buried  so  near  the  surface  of  the  ground  that  it  gave  out  an 
intolerable  stench.  A  swarm  of  green  flies  spread  like  locusts  over  that  section  of 
the  country.  Then  the  filth  of  the  camp,  arising  from  different  causes,  necessarily 
concentrated  there.  That,  with  divers  other  causes,  made  it  a  terrible  nuisance.  I 
could  not  have  had  it  otherwise  if  I  had  been  in  command  there.  If  I  had  ordered 
it  otherwise,  I  do  not  think  the  order  could  have  been  carried  out,  for  this  reason : 
when  that  prison  was  in  its  very  infancy,  in  its  very  inception,  and  when  the  officers 
were  instructed  not  to  build  accommodations  for  more  than  10,000,  there  were 
40,000  prisoners  sent  there.  Captain  Wirz  was  not  to  be  blamed  for  that. 

The  authorities  were  responsible  for  that;  I  cannot  say  who.  The  great  blunder 
on  the  part  of  the  government  was  the  concentration  of  so  many  men  at  one  place 
without  preparations  being  made  to  receive  them.  The  authorities  were  notified 
of  the  fact,  but  to  no  advantage.  I  think  that  some  of  the  higher  officials  were 
responsible,  but  who  they  were  I  cannot  say.  I  sent  notifications  through  General 
Winder  that  the  prison  was  worked  beyond  its  capacity,  that  it  was  a  vast,  un 
wieldy  thing,  and  to  send  no  more  prisoners;  but  they  kept  coming.  After  I  left 
there,  there  came  over  40,000;  no  man  on  earth  could  have  abated  the  rigors  of 
that  prison  except  the  man  who  wielded  the  power  over  them.  I  do  not  know  that 
man.  General  Winder  was  in  advance  of  me,  and  several  others  were  in  advance 
of  him.  Who  was  responsible  I  cannot  say.  About  that  time  an  order  was  issued 
from  the  office  of  the  adjutant  and  inspector-general  putting  General  Winder  in 
command  of  all  the  prisoners  east  of  the  Mississippi,  giving  him  absolute  control 


56 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 


[From   a  sketch  maile  in  August.  1804.) 
PLAN    OF    STOCKADE   AND    SURROUNDINGS   AT    ANDERSOIWILLE 

The  outlines  of  the  forts  represented  in  the  above  tut  differ  from  those  on  the  opposite  page,  which  are  correct,  owinjc 
-to  the  fact  that   the  person   who  made  the  sketch   \vus  not  ulluweil  to  approach  the  forts. 


and  dominion  over  them.  That  order  came  from  General  S.  Cooper,  adjutant  and 
inspector-general.  I  saw  that  order;  I  read  it  closely.  The  substance  of  it  was 
about  this:  They  were  reorganizing  the  different  prison  departments.  Some  man 
was  put  in  command  the  other  side  of  the  Mississippi,  and  General  Winder  was 
put  in  supreme  command  on  this  side. 

No  officer  had  any  right  to  interfere  with  him  in  any  shape,  form,  or  fashion; 
and  it  was  made  the  duty  of  all  officers  at  adjacent  posts  or  anywhere  else,  on 
requisition  made  by  General  Winder  or  any  of  his  subordinates  for  troops,  to 
furnish  them  forthwith.  The  order  gave  him  absolute  supreme  dominion  and 
control  over  that  thing.  All  officers  in  command  of  prisoners  were  to  report  to 
him,  and  to  take  orders  from  him.  I  do  not  recollect  the  date  of  that  order;  it 
was  about  the  last  of  summer.  I  saw  the  name  of  General  S.  Cooper,  adjutant 
and  inspector-general,  to  that  order.  I  studied  it  particularly  because  I  com 
manded  an  adjacent  post,  and  I  wanted  to  understand  my  duty.  I  do  not  know 
whether  it  said  it  was  by  order  of  the  president  or  not.  I  simply  know  that 
General  Cooper's  name  was  to  it. 


THE  PRISON  PEN  AND  ITS  COMMANDEE. 


57 


ade  from  actual  survey.) 


PLAT    OF   ANDERSONVILLE   PRISON    GROUNDS 


DESCRIPTION:  1  Care-taker's  House,  erected  by  the  National  W.  R.  C.  2  ."Providence 
Spring."  3  Site  of  proposed  National  Monument.  4  Outline  of  purchased  property. 
5  Outline  of  Stockade  enclosing  prisoners.  6  Outline  of  Outer  Stockade  (only  partially 
completed).  7  "Dead  Line."  8  Confederate  Forts  and  Batteries.  9  Mala  Fort,  or  "Star 
Fort,"  southwest  corner.  10  Site  of  Gallows,  where  marauders  were  hung.  1-1  Powder 
Magazines  in  "Star  Fort."  12  Site  of  Capt.  Wirtz'  Headquarters.  13  Gate  to  Roadway 
leading  to  the  Cemetery.  14  Wells  and  Tunnels  dug  by  prisoners.  •  15  Site  of  Dead  House. 
16  Entrenched  Camp  for  Guards.  17  Roadway,  100  feet  wide,  leading  to  railroad  station 


18  "Stockade   Creek,"   a   branch   of   Sweetwater. 
Gate  of  Stockade.     21   Flag  Staff. 


19  North   Gate   of   Stockade.      20  South 


Of  the  origin  of  the  dead-line  he  testified  : 

I  do  not  know  who  originated  the  dead-line.  It  originated  some  time  after 
Captain  Wirz  reported  there,  while  I  was  in  command  of  the  post.  I  did  not 
originate  it.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  commanding  officer  to  originate  it. 


58  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

It  will  not  be  found  practicable  to  follow  the  history  of  the  prison 
in  chronological  order.  Most  of  the  records  pertaining  to  the  prison 
were  destroyed  or  scattered  to  the  four  winds  when  the  Rebellion  col 
lapsed,  and  it  was  possible  only  to  obtain  fugitive  and  fragmentary 
documents  throwing  light  on  the  subject.  The  following  extracts  from 
the  record  will  show  that  the  condition  at  Andersonville  was  not 
unknown  at  Richmond.1 

TESTIMONY  OF  C.  M.  SELPH. 

I  have  been  in  the  Confederate  army  for  the  last  four  years  as  captain  in  the 
adjutant-general's  department — assistant  adjutant-general, — and  also  in  the  in 
spector-general's  department.  Those  departments  were  combined — they  were  sep 
arated  about  the  beginning  of  1864;  I  was  assistant  inspector-general,  on  duty 
in  the  office. 

I  am  acquainted  with  the  handwriting  of  Major-General  Howell  Cobb. 

[A  letter  was  here  handed  to  the  witness.] 

I  am  pretty  sure  that  is  a  letter  from  Howell  Cobb.  It  was  received  in  the 
adjutant-general's  office,  May  21,  1864,  and  was  sent  to  the  inspector-general's 
office  May  26th. 

[The  JUDGE  ADVOCATE  read  to  the  court  and  put  in  evidence — stating  that  he  did 
so  to  show  that  the  rebel  war  department  at  Richmond  was  cognizant  of  the 
condition  of  Andersonville  Prison — a  letter  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy :  ] 

HEADQUARTERS  GEORGIA  RESERVES, 

MACON,  GEORGIA,  May  5,  1864. 

GENERAL:  Under  your  orders  to  inform  myself  of  the  condition  of  the  prison 
at  Andersonville,  with  a  view  of  furnishing  from  the  reserve  corps  the  necessary 
guard  for  its  protection  and  safety,  I  made  a  visit  there  and  have  just  returned, 
and  now  submit  the  result  of  my  examination. 

There  are  now  in  the  prison  about  twelve  thousand  prisoners,  in  an  area  of  less 
than  eighteen  acres,  with  a  stockade  around  it  about  fifteen  feet  high.  I  presume 
the  character  of  the  prison  is  well  understood  at  Richmond,  and  therefore  give  no 
description  of  it.  The  danger  of  the  prisoners  escaping  is  not  so  great  as  I  had 
supposed.  With  a  guard  of  twelve  hundred  men,  four  pieces  of  artillery,  and  a 
cavalry  company,  all  apprehension  of  escape  would  be  quieted.  .  .  . 

I  took  the  liberty  of  making  several  suggestions  for  rendering  the  prison  more 
secure;  and  if  the  tools  could  be  had,  I  would  recommend  that  the  entire  prison 
grounds  should  be  surrounded  by  fortifications,  which  could  be  put  up  by  the 
troops,  whose  health  would  be  promoted  by  the  employment. 

The  most  important  change  is  the  one  suggested  in  the  accompanying  report  of 
my  chief  surgeon,  Dr.  Eldridge,  that  is,  the  erection  of  hospital  buildings  outside 
of  the  prison.  Upon  that  point  there  cannot  be  two  opinions  among  intelligent 
men.  It  ought  to  be  done  at  once,  and  such  is  the  opinion  of  every  sensible  man 
that  has  examined  the  prison. 

The  prison  is  already  too  much  crowded,  and  no  additional  prisoners  should  be 
sent  there  until  it  can  be  enlarged.  The  effect  of  increasing  the  number  within 
the  present  area  must  be  a  terrific  increase  of  sickness  and  death  during  the  sum 
mer  months.  I  understand  that  an  order  has  been  given  for  enlarging  the  prison. 
If  it  was  possible  to  make  another  prison  it  would  be  much  better,  for  I  doubt 
very  much  whether  the  water  will  be  sufficient  for  the  accommodation  of  the 

1  Record,  p.  219  et  seq. 


THE  PRISON  PEN  AND  ITS  COMMANDER.  59 

increased  number   of   prisoners.     The   general  management   of   the   prison   under 
Colonel  Persons  is  good,  and  he  manifests  a  laudable  desire  to  discharge  his  duties 
in  the  most  efficient  manner.     The  duties  of  the  inside  command  are  admirably 
performed  by  Captain  Wirz,  whose  place  it  would  be  difficult  to  fill. 
I  take  the  liberty  of  enclosing  a  copy  of  Dr.  Eldridge's  report. 
I  am,  general,  very  respectfully,  yours,  &c., 

HOWELL  COBB, 

GENERAL  S.  COOPER,  Major-General,  Commanding. 

Adjutant-General,  Richmond,  Va. 

[Indorsed :  ] 

Howell  Cobb,  Major-General,  Headquarters  Georgia  Reserves,  Macon,  May  5, 
1864.  Report  on  the  prison  at  Andersonville,  Georgia.  One  enclosure.  A.  &  I. 
G.  O.  received  May  26,  1864.  Received  A.  &  I.  G.  O.  May  21,  1864. 

WITNESS.  Howell  Cobb  was  brigadier-general  of  the  Georgia  Reserves  at  that 
time. 

[Another  paper  was  here  handed  to  the  witness.] 

This  paper  bears  official  marks  of  the  department;  it  is  the  enclosure  which  ac 
companied  General  Cobb's  letter. 

[The  Judge  Advocate  read  to  the  court  and  put  in  evidence  the  paper,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  copy:] 

HEADQUARTERS  GEORGIA  RESERVES, 

MACON,  GEORGIA,  May  6,  1864. 

MAJOR:  In  obedience  to  instructions  from  Major-General  Howell  Cobb,  I  have 
the  honor  to  make  the  following  report  of  my  visit  in  company  with  the  general  to 
the  prison  camp  at  Andersonville.  I  found  the  prisoners,  in  my  opinion,  too  much 
crowded  for  the  promotion  or  even  continuance  of  their  present  health,  particularly 
during  the  approaching  summer  months.  The  construction  of  properly  arranged 
barracks  would  of  course  allow  the  same  number  of  men  to  occupy  the  enclosures, 
with  material  advantage  to  their  comfort  and  health.  At  present  their  shelters 
consist  of  such  as  they  can  make  of  the  boughs  of  trees,  poles,  &c.,  covered  with 
dirt.  The  few  tents  they  have  are  occupied  as  a  hospital.  I  found  the  police  of 
the  camp,  though  not  very  good,  as  well  arranged  as  their  crowded  condition  and 
the  limited  number  of  shovels  would  allow.  Since  necessary  tools  have  been 
received  for  ditching,  &c.,  (which  has  been  very  recently,)  it  is  proposed  to  arrange 
the  sinks  so  that  the  fecal  matter  may  be  at  once  carried  away  by  the  stream 
running  through  the  enclosure,  which  will  at  once  materially  improve  the  condition 
of  the  camp.  I  found  the  condition  of  a  large  number  of  the  Belle  Island  prisoners 
on  their  arrival  to  be  such  as  to  require  more  attention  to  their  diet  and  cleanliness, 
than  to  the  actual  administration  of  medicines,  very  many  of  them  suffering  from 
chronic  diarrhoaa  combined  with  the  scorbutic  disposition,  with  extreme  emaciation 
as  the  consequence.  The  hospital  being  within  the  enclosure,  it  has  been  found  im 
practicable  to  administer  such  diet  and  give  them  such  attention  as  they  require,  as 
unless  constantly  watched,  such  diet  as  is  prepared  for  them  is  stolen  and  eaten  by 
the  other  prisoners.  There  is  a  fine  stream  within  a  few  hundred  yards  of  the 
present  enclosure,  across  which,  in  my  opinion,  there  should  be  made  another 
enclosure,  with  sufficient  hospital  buildings,  two  stories  high,  to  accommodate  from 
eight  hundred  to  one  thousand  patients.  Such  an  enclosure  as  I  should  suggest 
(a  plank  fence  ten  feet  high)  would  require  but  very  few  additional  guards,  which 
guard  appears  to  be  the  objection  urged  at  Richmond  to  a  separate  enclosure. 

The  patients  upon  their  admission  into  the  hospital  should  be  well  washed,  and 
a,  pool  arranged  on  the  side  of  the  stream,  and  furnished  only  with  a  clean  shirt, 
with  which  dress  they  would  hardly  attempt  to  escape.  The  nurses  could  be 
-detailed  with  such  discretion  that  but  few  would  attempt  to  escape,  and  with 
frequent  roll-calls,  they  would  be  absent  but  a  few  hours  before  detected,  and 
ivould  be  readily  caught  by  the  dogs  always  at  hand  for  that  purpose.  I  consider 


60  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONV1LLE. 

the  establishment  of  a  hospital  outside  of  the  present  enclosure  as  essential  to  the 
proper  treatment  to  the  sick,  and  most  urgently  recommend  its  immediate  con 
struction.  I  would  also  recommend  the  construction  of  as  many  bathing-pools 
within  the  prison  as  the  stream  would  warrant,  feeling  assured  from  the  appearance 
of  the  prisoners  that  their  use  would  contribute  materially  to  the  health  of  the 
bathers.  Other  improvements  would  be  suggested,  but  for  the  difficulty  of  obtain 
ing  labor,  tools,  and  materials;  but  with  those  above  mentioned,  the  urgent 
necessities  of  fche  prison  would  be  supplied. 

The  bakery  just  being  completed  will  be  the  means  of  furnishing  better-prepared 
food,  particularly  bread,  the  half-cooked  condition  of  which  has  doubtless  con 
tributed  to  the  continuance  of  the  bowel  affections.  I  will  add  that  as  far  as  I 
have  been  able  to  judge  from  my  short  visit,  the  management  of  the  medical 
department  of  the  prison,  under  the  direction  of  Chief  Surgeon  J.  F.  White, 
reflects  credit  upon  that  officer,  who  seems  well  qualified  for  the  position  he  occupies. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

E.  J.  ELDRIDGE, 

MAJOR  LAMAR  COBB,  Chief  Surgeon  Georgia  Reserves. 

A.  A.  and  I.  General,  Georgia  Reserves,  Macon,  Georgia. 

[Indorsed:] 

E.  J.  Eldridge,  Chief  Surgeon,  Headquarters  Georgia  Reserves,  Macon,  May  6, 
1864.  Report  of  the  prison  at  Andersonville,  Georgia. 

[A  letter  from  Captain  Wirz,  the  prisoner,  was  here  handed  to  the  witness.] 

I  do  not  know  whether  that  letter  bears  the  marks  of  the  department;  it  may 
be  the  mark  of  General  Winder's  office.  He  was  commandant  of  the  post  in  the 
city  of  Richmond;  Major  Turner  was  commandant  of  Libby  Prison,  Richmond. 
I  do  not  know  whether  these  reports  were  made  through  him. 

[The  handwriting  of  the  prisoner,  and  of  General  John  H.  Winder,  to  the  letter, 
was  proved  by  Captain  J.  H.  Wright,  previously  sworn  as  witness  for  the  prosecu 
tion;  and  the  JUDGE  ADVOCATE  offered  the  letter  in  evidence.  Counsel  for  the 
accused  objected,  on  the  ground  that  there  was  no  proof  of  the  official  character 
of  the  paper.  The  objection  was  overruled  and  the  paper  was  received  in  evidence. 
The  following  is  a  copy:1] 

CAMP  SUMTER,  ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  May  8,  1864. 

MAJOR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  make  the  following  report  in  regard  to  the  Con 
federate  States  military  prison  at  this  post. 

I  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  the  prison  by  Colonel  A.  W.  Persons,  the 
commandant  of  the  post,  on  the  27th  of  March,  1864,  having  reported  to  him  for 
duty  by  order  of  General  J.  H.  Winder,  commanding  Confederate  States  military 
prison.  I  found  the  prison  in  a  bad  condition  owing  to  the  want  of  tools,  such  as 
axes,  spades,  and  lumber  to  erect  proper  buildings;  Captain  W.  S.  Winder,  and 
his  successor,  Colonel  A.  W.  Persons,  had  left  nothing  untried  to  supply  th[ese]  so 
important  articles.  Only  two  weeks  ago  I  received  axes,  spades,  &c.,  from 
Columbus,  Georgia,  and  went  to  work  cutting  ditches,  &c.,  and  I  hope  to  have 
everything  in  the  interior  of  the  prison  completed  in  two  weeks.  The  bakery, 
which  could  not  be  completed  for  want  of  lumber,  is  now  in  operation.  The  neces 
sity  of  enlarging  the  stockade  is  unavoidable,  and  I  shall  commence  as  soon  as  I 
can  gather  a  sufficient  number  of  negroes.  I  would  most  respectfully  ask  you  to 
present  to  the  authorities  at  Richmond  the  impediment  thrown  in  my  way  by 
having  the  hospitals  inside  the  prison. 

1  Record,  p.  221. 


THE  PRISON  PEN  AND  ITS  COMMANDEE.  61 

The  number  of  prisoners  on  the  1st  day  of  April  was 7,160 

I  received  up  to  to-day,  from  various  sources 5,787 

I  received  to-day,  recaptured 7 

Total 12,954 

The  number  of  dead  from  the  1st  of  April  to  8th  of  May  is 728 

The  number  of  escaped  from  the  1st  of  April  to  the  8th  of  May  is.  .  13        741 

Leaving  on  hand 12,213 

I  would  also  call  your  attention  to  the  danger  of  having  our  present  guard  force 
withdrawn  and  their  places  supplied  by  the  reserve  forces  of  Governor  Brown. 

In  conclusion  allow  me  to  make  a  few  remarks  concerning  myself.  I  am  here  in 
a  very  unpleasant  position,  growing  out  of  the  rank  which  I  now  hold,  and  suggest 
the  propriety  of  being  promoted.  Having  the  full  control  of  the  prison,  and  con 
sequently  of  the  daily  prison  guard,  the  orders  which  I  have  to  give  are  very  often 
not  obeyed  with  the  promptness  the  occasion  requires,  and  I  am  of  opinion  that  it 
emanates  from  the  reluctance  of  obeying  an  officer  who  holds  the  same  rank  as 
they  do.  My  duties  are  manifold,  and  require  all  my  time  in  daytime,  and  very 
often  part  of  the  night,  and  I  would  most  respectfully  ask  that  two  commissioned 
officers  (lieutenants)  would  be  assigned  to  me  for  duty. 

I  am,  major,  most  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

H.  Wmz, 

MAJOR  THOS.  TURNER,  C.  S.  A.  Captain  Commanding  Prison. 

[Indorsed:] 

Andersonville,  Georgia,  Camp  Sumter,  May  8,  1864.  Captain  Henry  Wirz,  com 
manding  prison,  reports  in  reference  to  the  general  condition  of  the  prison,  and 
suggests  the  propriety  of  increased  rank  being  given  him.  Eichmond,  Virginia, 
May  25,  1864.  Eespectfully  forwarded,  recommended.  THOS.  P.  TURNER,  Major 
Commanding. 

Approved  and  respectfully  forwarded.  Captain  Wirz  has  proved  himself  to  be 
a  very  diligent  and  efficient  officer,  whose  superior  in  commanding  prisoners  and 
incident  duties  I  know  not.  JNO.  H.  WINDER,  Brigadier-General. 

I  have  had  opportunities  of  noticing  the  signatures  of  J.  A.  Seddon,  rebel 
secretary  of  war,  and  of  Colonel  H.  L.  Clay,  assistant  adjutant-general. 

[A  paper  was  here  handed  to  the  witness.] 

I  recognize  here  the  signature  of  Colonel  H.  L.  Clay,  assistant  adjutant-general, 
and  the  initials  of  Mr.  Seddon,  secretary  of  war.  Mr.  Seddon  was  in  the  habit  of 
signing  papers  and  referring  them  by  his  initials. 

[The  signature  of  Brigadier-General  Jno.  H.  Winder  was  identified  by  Captain 
J.  H.  Wright,  heretofore  sworn  as  a  witness  for  the  prosecution.  The  Judge  Ad 
vocate  then  read  and  put  in  evidence  the  letter  from  John  H.  Winder,  brigadier- 
general,  to  General  S.  Cooper,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy:] 

CAMP  SUMTER,  ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  July  21,  1864. 

GENERAL:  Your  indorsement  on  the  letter  of  S.  B.  Davis,  relating  to  the  strength 
of  the  guard  of  this  post,  contains  a  very  severe  censure,  which  I  am  sure  would  not 
have  been  made  if  you  had  had  a  clear  comprehension  of  this  post,  of  its  wants  and 
its  difficulties.  Eeflect  for  a  moment ;  29,201  prisoners  of  war,  many  of  them  most 
desperate  characters,  a  post  a  mile  long  by  half  a  mile  wide,  the  stockade  for 
prisoners  within  160  yards  of  a  mile  in  circumference,  numerous  avenues  leading 
to  the  post  to  be  guarded,  public  property  to  be  cared  for,  guards  for  working 
parties,  and  the  ordinary  camp  guards  for  the  troops,  and  you  can  form  some 
estimate  of  the  number  if"  would  require  for  these  purposes.  .  .  . 


62  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

You  speak  in  your  indorsement  of  placing  the  prisoners  properly.  I  do  not 
exactly  comprehend  what  is  intended  by  it.  I  know  of  but  one  way  to  place  them, 
and  that  is  to  put  them  into  the  stockade,  where  they  have  between  four  and  five 
square  yards  to  the  man.  This  includes  streets  and  two  (2)  acres  of  ground  about 
the  stream.  Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JNO.  H.  WINDER,I 

GENERAL  S.  COOPER,  Brigadier-General. 

Adjutant  and  Inspector-General. 

[Indorsed :  ] 

Camp  Sumter,  Andersonville,  Georgia,  July  21,  1864.  Brigadier-General  J.  H. 
Winder  reporting  condition  of  this  post,  its  wants  and  difficulties.  Respectfully 
submitted  to  the  secretary  of  war.  H.  L.  CLAY,  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

Adjutant  and  Inspector-General's  Office,  August  3,  1864.    Noted.    Filed.    J.  A.  S. 

[Counsel  for  the  accused  asked  the  Judge  Advocate  to  indicate  for  what  purpose 
these  papers  were  put  in  evidence.] 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  In  the  introduction  of  these  documents,  I  do  not  hesitate 
to  state  generally  that  while  the  government  considers  the  prisoner  an  atrocious 
criminal,  there  are  others  above  and  higher  than  him,  whom  the  government  will 
seek  to  hold  responsible  for  these  great  crimes;  and  it  is  for  the  purpose  of 
proving  on  those  who  had  the  power  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  Union  prisoners 
a  knowledge  of  their  condition,  that  these  documents  were  introduced. 

MR.  BAKER.  That  will  be  satisfactory,  if  you  state  in  that  general  way  what  is 
introduced  for  such  and  such  general  purposes. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  I  state  that  generally  with  reference  to  the  papers  I  am 
now  introducing. 

It  will  be  observed  that  early  in  May,  1864,  the  prison  was  reported 
as  too  much  crowded,  and  General  Cobb  recommended  that  no  more 
prisoners  should  be  sent  until  it  was  enlarged ;  that  the  result  of  increas 
ing  the  number  within  the  present  area  must  be  "a  terrific  increase  of 
sickness  and  death  during  the  summer  months."  He  also  suggested 
that  another  prison  would  be  better,  for  he  doubted  that  there  would  be 
sufficient  water  if  the  present  enclosure  were  enlarged.  Notwithstand 
ing  these  recommendations,  prisoners  continued  to  arrive  until  it  con 
tained,  at  the  time  of  its  enlargement,  over  twenty-two  thousand. 

It  was  some  time  before  Surgeon  Eldridge's  recommendation  to  erect 
a  hospital  outside  the  stockade,  and  remove  the  sick  for  treatment 
under  more  favorable  conditions,  was  attempted  to  be  carried  out. 
And  when  the  attempt  was  made,  instead  of  being  a  building  two 
stories  high,  it  offered  little  better  facilities  for  treating  the  sick  than 
were  given  them  inside  the  enclosure,  and,  as  we  shall  see,  the  sick 
prisoners  in  the  hospital  died  about  as  fast  as  the  sick  in  the  stockade 
for  whom  there  was  no  room  in  the  hospital.  The  lumber  which 


1  Winder  gives  the  swamp  area  as  two  acres.     Deduct  this  and  the  streets  and  dead-line  area, 
and  note  the  small  space  to  each  prisoner. 


THE  PRISON  PEN  AND  ITS  COMMANDER.  63 

Colonel  Persons  had  assembled  in  large  quantities  was  used  neither 
for  barracks,  for  the  well,  nor  at  the  hospital  for  the  sick.  And  the 
temporary  shelter  constructed  outside  the  enclosure  was  inadequate 
to  receive  more  than  half  the  number  requiring  treatment.  We  learn 
from  Dr.  Jones's  report  that  the  mean  strength  of  the  prison  in  March 
was  7,500,  and  the  total  deaths  283 ;  in  April,  mean  strength  10,000, 
and  deaths  576;  in  May,  mean  strength  15,000,  and  deaths  708;  in 
June,  mean  strength  22,291,  and  deaths  1,201.  In  March  they  died  at 
the  rate  of  37  per  1,000,  and  in  June  at  the  rate  of  53  per  1,000. 

From  a  table  found  in  Dr.  Jones's  report,  which  covered  the  months 
of  March,  April,  May,  June,  July,  and  August,  the  following  appears : 
"Per  cent  of  deaths  to  mean  strength,  sick  and  well:  March,  3.77; 
April,  5.76;  May,  4.72;  June,  5.38;  July,  6.64;  August,  9.09."  This 
report  shows  that  the  ratio  of  mortality  was  progressive,  and  the  fore 
cast  made  by  General  Cobb  proved  all  too  true.  And  in  August  it 
reached  the  frightful  proportions  of  nearly  one  in  ten  of  all  the  sick 
and  well  per  month. 

In  General  Winder's  report  of  July  21,  1864,  he  says  he  knows  of  no 
way  to  place  the  prisoners,  except  to  put  them  in  the  stockade,  "where 
they  have  between  four  and  five  square  yards  to  the  man.  This  includes 
streets  and  two  acres  of  ground  about  the  swamp."  Upon  its  reference 
to  the  secretary  of  war  it  received  scant  attention,  as  is  shown  by  the 
indorsement:  "Noted.  File.  J.  A.  S."  (James  A.  Seddon.) 

TESTIMONY  OF  CAPTAIN  J.  H.  WRIGHT.1 

I  have  been  in  the  Confederate  service.  I  was  captain  and  quartermaster  for  the 
Confederate  troops  at  Andersonville.  I  know  the  signature  of  J.  H.  Winder.  [A 
paper  was  here  handed  the  witness.]  That  is  his  signature.  It  resembles  his  son's 
signature  very  much,  but  I  am  confident  it  is  his  from  the  fact  that  he  signed  his 
"Jno.  H.  Winder,"  and  his  son  signs  his  "J.  H.  Winder."  I  know  the  handwriting 
of  the  prisoner.  I  find  the  prisoner's  handwriting  on  that  paper. 
[The  following  paper  was  put  in  evidence:] 

Consolidated  Return  for  Confederate  States  Military  Prison,  Camp  Sumter,  Ander 
sonville,  Georgia,  for  the  Month  of  August,  1864. 

Prisoners  on  hand  1st  of  August,  1864 : 

In  camp    29,985 

In  hospital   1,693 

31,678 

Received  from  various  places  during  August 3,078 

Recaptured 4 


Total 


1  Record,  p.   147. 


64  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONV1LLE. 

Died  during  the  month  of  August 2,993 

Sent  to  other  parts 23 

Exchanged    21 

Escaped 30       3,067 


Remaining  on  hand 31,693 

Of  which  there  are  on  the  31st  of  August — 

In  camp 29,473 

In  hospital 2,220 

— 31,693 

The  same  complaint  has  been  made  again  against  the  carelessness  and  insuffi 
ciency  of  the  guard  of  the  thirty  prisoners.  Eleven  escaped  while  on  parole  of 
honor  not  to  escape  as  long  as  they  would  be  employed  to  work  outside. 

The  balance  of  nineteen  escaped,  some  on  bribing  the  sentinel  with  greenbacks, 
some  simply  walking  off  from  the  guard  while  returning  from  the  place  where  the 
tools  are  deposited  at  night  that  are  used  in  the  stockade  in  daytime.  Perhaps 
twenty-five  more  escaped  during  the  month,  but  were  taken  up  by  the  dogs  before 
the  daily  return  was  made  out,  and  for  that  reason  they  are  not  on  the  list  of 
escaped  nor  recaptured. 

That  only  four  were  recaptured  is  owing  to  the  fact  that  [neither]  the  guard  nor 
the  officers  of  the  guard  reported  a  man  escaped.  The  roll-call  in  the  morning  showed 
the  man  missing,  but  he  was  too  far  gone  to  be  tracked.  As  we  have  no  general 
court-martial  here,  all  such  offenses  go  unpunished,  or  nearly  so. 

The  worthlessness  of  the  guard  forces  is  on  the  increase  day  by  day. 

H.  WIRZ, 
Captain  Commanding  Prison. 

[Indorsed:] 

Consolidated  return  for  Confederate  States  military  prison  for  the  month  of 
August,  1864.  Respectfully  forwarded  to  General  S.  Cooper,  adjutant  and  inspector- 
general.  September  5,  1864.  '  JNO.  H.  WINDER,  Brigadier-  General. 

It  thus  appears  that  in  August,  there  were  34,760  prisoners  in  con 
finement,  of  whom  2,993  died.  It  will  be  remembered  that  Surgeon 
Eldridge  spoke  in  his  report,  as  does  Captain  Wirz,  of  dogs  being  used 
to  "take  up"  escaped  prisoners.  We  shall  see  that  these  animals  were 
not  used  alone  to  track  escaped  prisoners,  but  that  they  were  per 
mitted  and  encouraged  to  attack  and  rend  them. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

CONDITION  OF  THE  PRISON  CONTINUED  —  SUFFERINGS  OF  PRISONERS  DEPICTED  — 
EEPORT  OF  COLONEL  D.  T.  CHANDLER — REPORT  OF  DR.  JOSEPH  JONES — CAUSES 
OF  SICKNESS  AND  DEATH  SHOWN  —  RESPONSIBILITY  FIXED  —  CONFEDERATE 
AUTHORITIES  AT  RICHMOND  HAD  FULL  KNOWLEDGE; — COLONEL  CHANDLER'S 
TESTIMONY  —  TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  JONES  —  Six  SQUARE  FEET  TO  THE  MAN — 
BARELY  ROOM  TO  COMFORTABLY  LIE  DOWN — INADEQUATE  POLICE  CONTROL — 
PRISONERS  TRY,  CONDEMN,  AND  HANG  Six  OF  THEIR  NUMBER— PRISONERS 
MURDERED  BY  THEIR  FELLOW-PRISONERS  FOR  THEIR  CLOTHING  AND  FOOD — THE 
BODIES  OF  THE  DEAD  MUTILATED — REPORTS  BY  SURGEON  STEVENSON,  SURGEON 
WHITE,  AND  SURGEON  THORNBURG — DR.  JONES'S  REPORT  GRAPHIC  DESCRIP 
TION  OF  PRISON  AND  HOSPITAL — CAUSES  OF  DEATH  AND  UNPARALLELED  SUF 
FERING. 

WHILE  Captain  C.  M.  Selph  was  on  the  witness-stand,  he  was 
called  upon  to  identify  the  report  of  Colonel  D.  T.  Chandler 
and  other  documents,  which  will  now  be  laid  before  the  reader. 

It  must  be  conceded  by  any  one  who  will  read  the  report  of  Colonel 
D.  T.  Chandler  that  it  was  of  supreme  importance  in  the  inquiry. 
Colonel  Chandler  was  assigned  to  the  duty  of  inspecting  this  prison 
and  of  reporting  thereon.  He  was  an  officer  of  high  standing  in  his 
department  and  was  a  graduate  of  West  Point.  It  was  of  first  import 
ance  also  to  show  that  this  report  and  its  enclosures  reached  Richmond, 
and,  had  the  attention  of  the  proper  officers  of  the  rebel  government. 
And  it  was  of  no  less  importance  to  ascertain  what  action,  if  any,  was 
taken  upon  the  report.  Upon  these  points  the  testimony  found  in  the 
record  makes  it  clear  that  the  Richmond  authorities  had  full  knowl 
edge  of  the  facts.  That  such  is  beyond  dispute,  and  that  nothing  was 
done  to  carry  out  the  recommendations  of  Colonel  Chandler  or  to 
ameliorate  the  sufferings  at  the  prison  by  those  who  had  ample  power 
a,  et,  when  so  strongly  urged,  appears  indisputably  throughout  the 
record.  The  significance  of  this  report  from  every  standpoint  justifies 
its  publication  with  but  little  abbreviation.  I  quote  from  the  record  i1 

[Another  paper,  being  a  report  from  Lieutenant-Colonel  Chandler  to  R.  H. 
Chilton,  was  here  handed  to  witness.] 

This  document  bears  the  signature  of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Chandler,  assistant 
adjutant  and  inspector-general  in  the  same  department  as  mine.  It  is  marked  as 
being  received  August  17,  1864. 

[The  paper  was  read  and  put  in  evidence.    The  following  is  a  copy.] 

1  Record,  p.  224  et  seq. 


66  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONV1LLE. 

ANDERSON,  July  5,  1864.1 

COLONEL:  Having,  in  obedience  to  instructions  of  the  25th  ultimo,  carefully 
inspected  the  prison  for  Federal  prisoners  of  war  and  post  at  this  place,  I  re 
spectfully  submit  the  following  report: 

The  Federal  prisoners  of  war  are  confined  within  a  stockade  15  feet  high,  of 
roughly  hewn  pine  logs,  about  8  inches  in  diameter,  inserted  5  feet  into  the  ground, 
enclosing,  including  the  recent  extension,  an  area  of  540  by  260  yards.  A  railing 
around  the  inside  of  the  stockade,  and  about  20  feet  from  it,  constitutes  the  "dead 
line,"  beyond  which  the  prisoners  are  not  allowed  to  pass,  and  about  S1^  acres  near 
the  center  of  the  enclosure  are  so  marshy  as  to  be  at  present  unfit  for  occupation — 
reducing  the  available  present  area  to  about  23^  acres,  which  gives  somewhat  less 
than  6  square  feet  2  to  each  prisoner.  Even  this  being  constantly  reduced  by 
the  additions  to  their  number.  A  small  stream  passing  from  west  to  east  through 
the  enclosure,  at  about  150  yards  from  its  southern  limit,  furnishes  the  only  water 
for  washing  accessible  to  the  prisoners.  Some  regiments  of  the  guard,  the  bakery 
and  cook-house,  being  placed  on  the  rising  grounds  bordering  the  stream  before 
it  enters  the  prison,  render  the  water  nearly  unfit  for  use  before  it  reaches  the 
prisoners.  This  is  now  being  remedied  in  part  by  the  removal  of  the  cook-house. 
Under  the  pressure  of  their  necessities  the  prisoners  have  dug  numerous  wells 
within  the  enclosure,  from  which  they  obtain  an  ample  supply  of  water  to  drink, 
of  good  quality.  Excepting  the  edges  of  this  stream,  the  soil  is  sandy  and  easily 
drained,  but  from  30  to  50  yards  on  each  side  of  it  the  ground  is  a  muddy  marsh, 
totally  unfit  for  occupation,  and  having  been  constantly  used  as  a  sink  since  the 
prison  was  first  established,  it  is  now  in  a  shocking  condition  and  cannot  fail  to 
breed  pestilence.  An  effort  is  being  made  by  Captain  Wirz,  commanding  the  prison, 
to  fill  up  the  marsh  and  construct  a  sluice — the  upper  end  to  be  used  for  bathing, 
etc.,  and  the  lower  end  as  a  sink,  but  the  difficulty  of  procuring  lumber  and  tools 
very  much  retards  the  work,  and  threatens  soon  to  stop  it.  No  shelter  whatever 
nor  material  for  constructing  any  has  been  provided  by  the  prison  authorities, 
and  the  ground  being  entirely  bare  of  trees,  none  is  within  reach  of  the  prisoners, 
nor  has  it  been  possible,  from  the  overcrowded  state  of  the  enclosure,  to  arrange 
the  camp  with  any  system.  Each  man  has  been  permitted  to  protect  himself  as 
best  he  can,  stretching  his  blanket,  or  whatever  he  may  have,  above  him  on  such 
sticks  as  he  can  procure,  thatches  of  pine  or  whatever  his  ingenuity  may  suggest 
and  his  cleverness  supply.  Of  other  shelter  there  is  and  has  been  none. 

The  whole  number  of  prisoners  is  divided  into  messes  of  270,  and  subdivisions  of 
90  men,  each  under  a  sergeant  of  their  own  number  and  selection,  and  but  one 
Confederate  States  officer,  Captain  Wirz,  is  assigned  to  the  supervision  and  con 
trol  of  the  whole.  In  consequence  of  this  fact,  and  the  absence  of  all  regularity 
in  the  prison  grounds,  and  there  being  no  barracks  or  tents,  there  are  and  can  be 
no  regulations  established  for  the  police  consideration  of  the  health,  comfort,  and 
sanitary  condition  of  those  within  the  enclosure,  and  none  are  practicable  under 
existing  circumstances.  In  evidence  of  their  condition,  I  would  cite  the  facts 
that  numbers  have  been  found  murdered  by  their  comrades,  and  that  recently,  in 
their  desperate  efforts  to  provide  for  their  own  safety,  a  court  organized  among 
themselves  by  authority  of  General  Winder,  commanding  the  post,  granted  on 
their  own  application,  has  tried  a  large  number  of  their  fellow-prisoners,  and 
sentenced  six  to  be  hung,  which  sentence  was  duly  executed  by  themselves  within 
the  stockade,  with  the  sanction  of  the  post  commander.  His  order  in  the  case  has 
been  forworded  by  him  to  the  war  department. 

There  is  no  medical  attendance  provided  within  the  stockade.  Small  quantities 
of  medicines  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  certain  prisoners  of  each  squad  or  division, 
and  the  sick  are  directed  to  be  brought  out  by  sergeants  of  squads  daily,  at  "sick 
call,"  to  the  medical  officers  who  attend  at  the  gate.  The  crowd  at  these  times  is 

1  The  true  date  was  August  sth,  as  appears  further  along. 

2  The   original   report  reads   6    square   feet,    and  not   6    feet   square,   and   probably   excluded 
the  swamp. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  67 

so  great  that  only  the  strongest  can  get  access  to  the  doctors,  the  weaker  ones 
being  unable  to  force  their  way  through  the  press;  and  the  hospital  accommoda 
tions  are  so  limited  that  though  the  beds  (so-called)  have  all  or  nearly  all  two 
occupants  each,  large  numbers  who  would  otherwise  be  received  are  necessarily 
sent  back  to  the  stockade.  Many — twenty  yesterday — are  carted  out  daily,  who 
have  died  from  unknown  causes  and  whom  the  medical  officers  have  never  seen. 
The  dead  are  hauled  out  daily  by  the  wagoriload,  and  buried  without  coffins,  their 
hands  in  many  instances  being  first  mutilated  with  an  axe  in  the  removal  of  any 
finger  rings  they  may  have.  The  sanitary  condition  of  the  prisoners  is  as  wretched 
as  can  be,  the  principal  causes  of  mortality  being  scurvy  and  chronic  diarrhoea,  the 
percentage  of  the  former  being  disproportionately  large  among  those  brought  from 
Belle  Island.  Nothing  seems  to  have  been  done,  and  but  little  if  any  effort  made 
to  arrest  it  by  procuring  proper  food.  The  ration  is  %  pound  of  bacon  and  1*4 
pound  unbolted  corn  meal,  with  fresh  beef  at  rare  intervals,  and  occasionally  rice. 
When  to  be  obtained — very  seldom — a  small  quantity  of  molasses  is  substituted 
for  the  meat  ration.  A  little  weak  vinegar  unfit  for  use  has  sometimes  been 
issued.  The  arrangements  for  cooking  and  baking  have  been  wholly  inadequate, 
and  though  additions  are  now  being  completed  it  will  still  be  impossible  to  cook 
for  the  whole  number  of  prisoners.  Raw  rations  have  to  be  issued  to  a  very  large 
proportion  who  are  entirely  unprovided  with  proper  utensils  and  furnished  so 
limited  a  supply  of  fuel  they  are  compelled  to  dig  with  their  hands  in  the  filthy 
marsh  before  mentioned  for  roots,  etc.  No  soap  or  clothing  has  ever  been  issued. 

After  inquiring,  I  am  confident  that  by  slight  exertions,  green  corn  and  other 
anti-scorbutics  could  readily  be  obtained.  I  herewith  hand  two  reports  of  Chief 
Surgeon  White,  to  which  I  would  respectfully  call  your  attention.  The  present 
hospital  arrangements  were  only  intended  for  the  accommodation  of  the  sick  of 
10,000  men,  and  are  totally  insufficient,  both  in  character  and  extent,  for  the 
present  needs;  the  number  of  prisoners  being  now  more  than  three  times  as  great, 
the  number  of  cases  requiring  medical  treatment  is  in  an  increased  ratio.  It  is 
impossible  to  state  the  number  of  sick,  many  dying  within  the  stockade,  whom 
the  medical  officers  never  see  or  hear  of  until  their  remains  are  brought  out  for 
interment.  The  rate  of  death  has  been  steadily  increased  from  37  4-10  per  mil. 
during  the  month  of  March  last  to  62  7-10  per  mil.  in  July.  Of  the  medical  officers, 
but  ten  hold  commissions;  nearly  all  of  the  others  are  detailed  from  the  militia, 
and  have  accepted  the  position  to  avoid  serving  in  the  ranks,  and  will  relinquish 
their  contracts  as  soon  as  the  present  emergency  is  passed  and  the  militia  is  dis 
banded.  But  little  injury  would  result  from  this,  however,  as  they  are  generally 
very  inefficient.  Not  residing  at  the  post,  only  visiting  it  once  a  day  at  sick  call, 
they  bestow  but  little  attention  to  those  under  their  care.  The  smail-pox  hospital 
is  under  the  charge  of  Dr.  E.  Sheppard,  P.  A.  C.  S.  More  than  half  the  cases  in  it 
have  terminated  fatally.  The  management  and  police  of  the  general  hospital 
grounds  seem  to  be  as  good  as  the  limited  means  will  allow,  but  there  is  pressing 
necessity  for  at  least  three  times  the  number  of  tents  and  amount  of  bedding 
now  on  hand.  The  supply  of  medicines  is  wholly  inadequate,  and  frequently  there 
is  none,  owing  to  the  great  delays  experienced  in  filling  the  requisitions. 

It  is  believed  no  other  point  in  the  State  offers  the  same  advantages  of  healthy 
location  and  facilities  for  safe-keeping  of  the  prisoners,  that  is  not  more  accessible 
to  raids.  Nor  can  I  learn  that  any  advantage  can  be  gained  by  removal  to  any 
other  part  of  the  State.  I  am  decidedly  of  opinion  that  not  over  15,000  prisoners 
should  be  kept  at  this  point,  the  running  water  not  being  sufficient  for  more  than 
that  number,  and  because  it  is  impossible  for  one  man  to  exercise  a  proper  super 
vision  over  them,  and  that  all  over  that  number  should  be  sent  elsewhere.  At  my 
request  a  survey  of  the  grounds  has  been  made  by  Colonel  Harkie,  Fifty-fifth 
Georgia  Regiment,  and  civil  engineer,  with  a  view  to  drainage.  His  report  is 
herewith  submitted,  with  a  recommendation  that  his  plan  be  carried  out  by  the 
engineer  department,  that  being  the  only  one  authorized  to  impress  the  necessary 
labor.  The  necessity  for  it  is  urgent.  I  also  recommend  that  a  supply  of  clothing 
be  furnished  for  issue  to  the  prisoners,  and  that  soap  and  anti-scorbutics  be  regu 
larly  issued  to  them.  Attention  is  specially  invited  to  the  report  of  Chief  Surgeon 


68  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

White,  relative  to  the  construction  of  barracks,  and  the  supply  of  additional  tents 
for  hospital  use,  and  I  would  respectfully  suggest  that  commissioned  officers  of  the 
medical  staff  be  sent  to  replace  the  contract  physicians  and  doctors  detailed  from 
the  militia,  and  that  they  be  required  to  reside  at  the  post.  The  transportation 
of  the  post  is  entirely  insufficient,  and  authority  is  needed  by  the  quartermaster  to 
impress  wagons  and  teams  and  saw-mills,  when  not  employed  by  the  government 
pr  railroads  and  kept  diligently  occupied,  and  instructions  given  to  the  quarter 
master  in  charge  of  transportation  to  afford  every  facility  practicable  for  trans 
porting  lumber  and  supplies  necessary  for  prisoners.  Bake-pans,  or  sheet-iron  for 
making  them,  should  at  once  be  furnished.  The  telegraph  line  should  be  continued 
from  Fort  Valley  to  Andersonville,  thirty-one  miles.  Attention  is  respectfully 
called  to  the  accompanying  copy  of  an  order  issued  by  Brigadier-General  Gardner, 
to  convert  all  moneys  belonging  to  prisoners,  in  the  hands  of  the  quartermaster  at 
Eichmond,  into  Confederate  currency,  and  at  the  prices  established  by  government, 
without  consulting  the  wishes  of  the  prisoners  on  the  subject.  It  will  be  seen  by 
the  account  book  forwarded  with  this,  that  some  of  these  claim  considerable 
amounts.  The  injustice  of  compelling  them  to  receive  our  currency  against  their 
consent  is  apparent. 

In  conclusion  I  beg  leave  to  recommend  that  no  more  prisoners  be  sent  to  this 
already  overcrowded  prison,  and  that  at  the  two  additional  localities  selected  by 
General  Winder  under  instructions  from  General  Bragg — the  one  near  Milan, 
Georgia,  the  other  some  point  in  Alabama  south  of  Cahawba — arrangements  be  at 
once  made  for  the  excess  over  15,000  at  this  post,  and  such  others  as  may  be 
captured.  Since  my  inspection  was  made,  over  1,300  prisoners  have  been  added 
to  the  number  specified  in  the  reports  herewith.  With  a  view  of  relieving  to  some 
extent  this  point  as  soon  as  possible,  I  respectfully  suggest  that  2,000  of  those 
who  most  need  the  change,  especially  the  Belle  Isle  prisoners,  be  at  once  sent  to 
Macon,  to  occupy  the  quarters  vacated  by  the  Federal  officers,  that  being  the 
greatest  number  that  can  be  properly  accommodated  with  shelter  at  that  point. 

It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  the  regulations  for  the  government  of  the  pris 
oners  be  legibly  painted  on  boards  and  exposed  in  conspicuous  places,  say  by  nail 
ing  on  the  sutler's  shop  and  on  the  inner  face  of  the  stockade  at  various  points. 
Those  established  by  Captain  Wirz,  herewith  submitted,  are  approved,  with  the 
exception  of  paragraph  4th,  which  it  is  recommended  shall  be  stricken  out. 

I  am,  colonel,  your  obedient  servant, 

D.  T.  CHANDLER, 
Assistant  Adjutant  and  Inspector-General. 

COLONEL  E.  H.  CHILTON, 

Assistant  Adjutant  and  Inspector-General. 

Colonel  Chandler  made  a  supplemental  report  on  August  5,  1864, 
which  went  forward  with  the  principal  report.  In  it  he  commends 
Captain  Wirz  as  an  efficient  officer,  and  closes  with  the  following 
recommendation  as  to  General  Winder : 

My  duty  requires  me  respectfully  to  recommend  a  change  in  the  officer  in 
command  of  the  post,  Brigadier-General  J.  H.  Winder,  and  the  substitution  in  his 
place  of  some  one  who  unites  both  energy  and  good  judgment  with  some  feeling 
of  humanity  and  consideration  for  the  welfare  and  comfort  (so  far  as  is  consistent 
with  their  safe-keeping)  of  the  vast  number  of  unfortunates  placed  under  his 
control;  some  one  who  at  least  will  not  advocate  deliberately  and  in  cold  blood 
the  propriety  of  leaving  them  in  their  present  condition  until  their  number  has 
been  sufficiently  reduced  by  death  to  make  the  present  arrangement  suffice  for 
their  accommodation;  who  will  not  consider  it  a  matter  of  self-laudation  and 
boasting  that  he  has  never  been  inside  of  the  stockade,  a  place  the  horrors  of 
which  it  is  difficult  to  describe,  and  which  is  a  disgrace  to  civilization;  the  condi 
tion  of  which  he  might,  by  the  exercise  of  a  little  energy  and  judgment,  even 
with  the  limited  means  at  his  command,  have  considerably  improved. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCKIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  69 

In  obedience  to  instructions,  I  shall  next  proceed  to  the  headquarters  of  the 
army  of  Tennessee,  and  request  that  any  communications  for  me  be  forwarded 
there  to  the  care  of  the  chief  of  staff. 

I  am,  colonel,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

D.  T.  CHANDLEE,I 

Assistant  Adjutant  and  Inspector-General. 
COL.  E.  H.  CHILTON, 

Assistant  Adjutant  and  Inspector-General, 

C.  S.  A.,  Richmond,  Va. 

[Another  paper  being  exhibited  to  witness,  he  identified  it  as  another  enclosure 
of  the  report  previously  read.  It  was  offered  in  evidence.  The  following  is  a 
copy:] 

Consolidated  Eeturn   for  Confederate   States   Military   Prison   at   Camp    Sumter, 
Andersonville,  Georgia,  for  the  Month  of  July,  1864. 

Prisoners  on  hand  on  1st  of  July,  1864,  in  camp 25,005 

in  hospital 1,362      26,367 

Prisoners  received  during  the  month  from  various  places 7,064 

recaptured 12        7,076 

Total   33,443 

Died  during  the  month 1,742 

Escaped    20 

Sent  to  other  posts   3        1,765 

Total  on  hand 31,678 

Of  which  there  are  in  camp  29,998 

Of  which  there  are  in  hospital 1,680 

The  number  escaped  from  stockade  and  not  recaptured,  from  the  1st  of  April  up 
to  date,  is  27  men. 

Average  number  of  prisoners  each  day 29,030 

Average  number  of  dead  each  day 56% 

H.  WIRZ, 
Captain  Commanding  Prison. 

There  was  a  consolidated  report  submitted  by  Wirz  for  the  week 
ending  July  31,  1864,  which  shows  that  529  died  in  that  week,  96 
having  died  on  July  31st.  On  that  day  1,776  were  reported  in  hos 
pital  and  the  deaths  daily  were  5.4  per  cent.  At  this  rate,  in  IS1/^ 
days  the  entire  1,776  would  be  in  their  graves. 

I  think  the  reader  should  learn  from  the  witness  and  the  official 
papers  just  what  became  of  this  damning  record  of  the  tragedy  being 
enacted  at  Andersonville,  and  what  action,  if  any,  it  evoked  :2 

1  Record,  p.  227. 

3  Record,  p.   230  et  seq. 


70  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

WITNESS.  When  these  papers  were  submitted  to  the  department  they  were 
forwarded  to  the  secretary  of  war  with  indorsement,  immediately  on  their  receipt 
by  Colonel  Chilton,  inspector-general. 

[A  paper  was  here  shown  to  the  witness.] 

That  is  Colonel  Chilton's  signature;    that  is  his  indorsement  made  at  the  time. 

[The  paper  was  then  offered  in  evidence.    The  following  is  a  copy:] 

ADJUTANT  AND  INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S  OFFICE,  August  18,  1864. 
Respectfully  submitted  to  the  secretary  of  war.     The  condition  of  the  prison  at 
Andersonville  is  a  reproach  to  us  as  a  nation. 

The  engineer  and  ordinance  departments  were  applied  to  for  implements,  autho 
rized  their  issue,  and  I  so  telegraphed  General  Winder. 
Colonel  Chandler's  recommendations  are  concurred  in. 

By  order  of  General  S.  Cooper :  R.  W.  CHILTON,  A.  A.  $  I.  G. 

Q.  This  reads,  "respectfully  submitted  to  the  secretary  of  war,  etc."  Was  the 
report  so  submitted? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

Q.  In  whose  handwriting  is  the  name  "Mr.  Wellford"  on  this  paper  (Exhibit 
23)? 

A.  It  is  in  the  handwriting  of  Judge  Campbell,  assistant  secretary  of  war. 

Q.  Who  is  Mr.  Wellford? 

A.  He  was  the  attorney  for  the  war  department. 

Q.   [Another  paper  being  shown  to  witness.]     Whose  indorsement  is  that? 

A.  That  is  the  indorsement  of  Judge  Campbell  to  the  secretary  of  war. 

Q.  [The  attention  of  witness  being  directed  to  another  part  of  the  same  paper.] 
Whose  writing  is  that? 

A.  Mr.  Wellford's  writing. 

Q.  What  was  Mr.  Wellford's  duty? 

A.  To  examine  the  papers,  to  make  an  analysis  of  them,  and  submit  them  to  the 
secretary  of  war  with  his  opinion. 

[The  paper  was  then  offered  in  evidence.     The  following  is  a  copy:] 

SECRETARY  OF  WAR: 

These  reports  show  a  condition  of  things  at  Andersonville  which  calls  very  loudly 
for  interposition  of  the  department  in  order  that  a  change  may  be  made. 

J.  A.  CAMPBELL, 
Assistant  Secretary  of  War. 

Report  of  Inspection  of  military  prison  at  Andersonville,  Georgia — (18  enclosures. )l 

D.  T.  CHANDLER,  Lieutenant-Colonel,  etc. 

This  report  discloses  a  condition  of  things  imperatively  demanding  prompt  and 
decisive  measures  of  relief.  The  discomforts  and  sufferings  of  the  prisoners  seem 
almost  incredible;  and  the  frightful  percentum  of  mortality,  steadily  increasing 
until  in  the  month  of  July  it  had  attained  the  extent  of  62  and  7-10  per  thousand, 
appears  to  be  only  a  necessary  consequence  of  the  criminal  indifference  of  the 
authorities  charged  with  their  care  and  custody.  No  effectual  remedy  for  all  the 
evils  seems  available  so  long  as  the  numbers  are  in  such  large  excess  over  that  for 
which  the  prison  was  designed;  but  some  things  can  be  ...  at  once  to  ameliorate 
the  con  .  .  .  Colonel  Chandler,  whose  recommend  .  .  .  are  approved  by  Colonel 
Chilton,  suggests  the  relief  of  General  Winder  and  substitute  .  .  .  some  other  com 
mander.  The  state  .  .  .  things  disclosed  in  the  reports  cannot — 

1  This  indorsement  is  given  as  fully  as  its  mutilated  condition  made  possible. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES. 


71 


PtAN    OF   PRISON 

ANDERSONVILLE 
GA. 


MAP  OF  GEORGIA. 


WITNESS.  These  indorsements  show  the  report  was  laid  before  the  secretary  of 
war.  I  do  not  know  of  any  action  taken  on  the  report  by  the  secretary  of  war. 
General  Winder  was  assigned  to  the  command  of  all  the  prisoners  about  two  weeks 
afterwards,  I  think.  He  was  assigned  as  commissary-general  of  prisoners.  An 
analysis  of  the  report  was  made  and  extracts  were  sent  to  the  surgeon-general,  the 
quartermaster-general,  the  commissary-general;  in  fact  all  the  bureaus  of  the  war 
department.  I  have  no  evidence  that  this  report  went  before  Jefferson  Davis.  I 
have  no  positive  evidence  'at  all  that  it  ever  went  to  Mr.  Davis. 

Q.  Did  you  learn  from  a  staff  officer  of  Jefferson  Davis  that  this  report  was  laid 
before  him;  and  if  so,  in  what  way  did  you  receive  the  intelligence? 

[Mr.  Baker  objected  to  the  question  on  the  ground  that  the  charges  and  specifica 
tions  embraced  no  charge  against  Jefferson  Davis.  The  Court,  after  deliberation, 
overruled  the  objection.] 

A.  I  cannot  say  that  I  did.  It  is  mere  inference  that  it  was  so  laid  before  him, 
and  I  would  hardly  be  authorized  in  stating  that  inference. 

Q.  Can  you  recollect  the  language  made  use  of  by  the  officer  referred  to? 

MR.  BAKER.    We  object. 

THE  PRESIDENT.  Cannot  the  witness  state  the  facts  on  which  the  inference  is 
founded1? 

WITNESS.  I  have  a  very  indistinct  recollection  of  the  conversation  with  the  aide 
of  Jefferson  Davis. 

[Mr.  Baker  objected  to  the  witness  stating  the  facts  on  which  his  inference  is 
founded.  The  Court,  after  deliberation,  overruled  the  objection.] 


72  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

WITNESS.  As  I  said  before,  I  will  not  hazard  a  statement  of  the  conversation 
that  I  had.  My  recollection  is  so  indistinct  that  I  am  not  willing  to  hazard  my 
own  inference.  The  question  of  the  judge-advocate  was  doubtless  suggested  bj  a 
remark  which  I  made  to  him  yesterday,  though  I  stated  at  the  time  that  I  would 
not  hazard  it  as  testimony.  Consequently  T  cannot  state  any  facts  on  which  I  base 
the  inference. 

By  the  COURT  : 

The  conversation  was  between  Colonel  Woods  and  myself  in  regard  to  the 
Andersonville  Prison,  and  during  that  conversation  I  obtained  the  impression  that 
President  Davis  had  some  knowledge  of  it;  but  I  am  not  willing  to  hazard  that 
as  testimony,  for  I  have  a  very  indistinct  recollection.  The  inference  to  which  I 
allude  was  formed  at  the  time  of  this  conversation.  I  recollect  that  that  was  my 
inference. 

By  the  JUDGE  ADVOCATE: 

It  was  subsequent  to  these  reports.  I  don't  recollect  how  long  after;  it  must 
have  been  very  shortly  afterwards.  Colonel  Woods  was  John  Taylor  Woods,  a 
lieutenant  in  the  navy,  and  aide  to  President  Davis.  I  think  a  paper  of  this  kind, 
on  a  subject  of  this  magnitude,  would  find  its  way  to  the  president  of  the  so-called 
Confederate  States,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  proceedings.  Extracts  were  made  and 
sent  to  the  quartermaster  and  commissary  departments  about  the  time  the  report 
was  handed  in. 

[Exhibit  19  was  here  shown  to  witness.] 

These  words,  "Extract  made  for  C.  S.  General,"  are  in  mv  handwriting. 

[Exhibit  18  was  here  shown  to  witness.] 

These  words,  "Extracts  from  within  report  have  been  sent  to  the  different 
bureaus,  and  directions  to  General  Winder  for  correction  and  remedy  of  the  evils, 
etc.,"  are  in  my  handwriting. 

[A  paper  was  here  exhibited  to  witness.] 

The  endorsement  upon  that  paper  is  by  the  surgeon-general.  The  paper  was  an 
enclosure  of  Colonel  Chandler's  report.  S.  D.  Moore  was  the  surgeon-general  of  the 
Confederate  army. 

[The  paper  was  then  offered  in  evidence.     The  following  is  a  copy:] 

CHIEF  SURGEON'S  OFFICE,  August  2,  1864. 

COLONEL:  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  report  of  the  sanitary  con 
dition  of  the  Confederate  States  military  prison: 

The  number  of  sick  on  morning  report  is  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  five 
(1,305)  in  hospital,  and  five  thousand  and  ten  (5,010)  in  quarters. 

The  total  number  of  deaths  from  the  organization  of  the  prison,  (February  24, 
1864,)  up  to  date,  is  4,585. 

The  following  table  exhibits  the  ratio  per  one  thousand  (1,000)  of  mean  strength 
during  the  different  months: 

Month. 

March    

April     

May     

June    

July    

There  is  nothing  in  the  topography  of  the  country  tMt  can  be  said  to  influence 
the  health  of  the  prison. 


Mean 

Ratio  per  1,000 

strength. 

Deaths. 

of  mean  strength. 

7,500 

283 

37.4 

10,000 

576 

57.6 

15,000 

708 

47.2 

22,291 

1,201 

53.87 

29,030 

1,817 

62.7 

CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  73 

The  land  is  high  and  well  drained,  the  soil  light  and  sandy,  with  no  marshes  or 
other  source  of  malaria  in  the  vicinity,  except  the  small  stream  within  the  stockade. 
The  densely  crowded  condition  of  the  prisoners,  with  the  innumerable  little  shelters 
irregularly  arranged,  precludes  the  enforcement  of  proper  police,  and  prevents  free 
circulation  of  air. 

The  lack  of  barrack  accommodation  exposes  the  men  to  the  heat  of  the  sun 
during  the  day  and  to  the  dew  at  night,  and  is  a  prolific  source  of  disease. 

The  margins  of  the  stream  passing  through  the  stockade  are  low  and  boggy,  and 
having  been  recently  drained,  have  exposed  a  large  surface  covered  with  vegetable 
mould  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  a  condition  favorable  to  the  development  of 
malarious  diseases.  It  is  the  design  of  the  commandant  of  the  prison  to  cover 
the  surface  with  dry  sand,  but  the  work  has  been  unavoidably  retarded. 

The  absence  of  proper  sinks  (and  the  filthy  habits  of  the  men)  have  caused  a 
deposit  of  fecal  matter  over  almost  the  entire  surface  of  this  bottom  land. 

The  point  of  exit  of  the  stream  through  the  walls  of  the  stockade  is  not  suffi 
ciently  bold  to  permit  a  free  passage  of  ordure. 

When  the  stream  is  swollen  by  rains  the  lower  portion  of  this  bottom  land  is 
overflowed  by  a  solution  of  excrement,  which,  subsiding  arid  the  surface  exposed  to 
the  sun,  produces  a  horrible  stench. 

Captain  Wirz,  the  commandant  of  the  prison,  has  doubtless  explained  to  you  the 
difficulties  which  have  prevented  these,  with  other  projected  improvements,  in  the 
way  of  bathing  and  other  arrangements  for  cleanliness. 

Respectfully  submitted : 

ISAIAH  H.  WHITE, 
COLONEL  CHANDLER.  Chief  Surgeon  Post. 

[Indorsed:] 

Andersonville,  Ga.,  August  4,  1864.  Respectfully  submitted  with  inspection 
report.  D.  T.  CHANDLER,  A.  A.  &  I.  G. 

[Remarks  in  pencil:]  Surgeon  Cooney  has  been  ordered  to  inspect  and  report  on 
hospital  accommodations  for  prisoners. 

Surgeon  White  was  authorized  some  time  since  to  send  his  requisitions  for  sup 
plies  direct  to  the  medical  purveyors.  Not  having  supplies  is  his  own  fault;  he 
should  have  anticipated  the  wants  of  the  sick  by  timely  requisitions.  All  requisi 
tions  are  approved  by  the  medical  directors. 

It  is  impossible  to  order  medical  officers  in  place  of  the  contract  physicians. 
They  are  not  to  be  had  at  present.  S.  D.  MOORE,  Surgeon-General. 

Colonel  Chandler  testified  as  a  witness  at  great  length  and  explained 
in  much  detail  the  character  of  his  inspection  and  from  what  data  his 
report  was  made.  As  we  have  the  result  of  his  investigations  in  his 
report,  it  is  not  necessary  to  set  out  his  testimony  at  length.  Among 
other  things,  he  said: 

I  have  no  retraction  to  make  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  prison  at  Ander 
sonville,  as  represented  in  my  report.  ...  I  noticed  that  General  Winder  seemed 
indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the  prisoners,  indisposed  to  do  anything,  or  to  do  as 
much  as  I  thought  he  ought  to  do,  to  alleviate  their  sufferings.  I  remonstrated 
with  him  as  well  as  I  could,  and  he  used  that  language  which  I  reported  to  the 
department.  When  I  spoke  of  the  great  mortality  existing  among  the  prisoners, 
and  pointed  out  to  him  that  the  sickly  season  was  coming  on  and  that  it  must 
necessarily  increase  unless  something  was  done  for  their  relief, — the  swamp,  for 
instance,  drained;  proper  food  furnished  them,  and  in  better  quantity;  and  other 
sanitary  suggestions  which  I  made  to  him, — he  replied  to  me  that  he  thought  it  was 
better  to  let  half  of  them  die  than  to  take  care  of  the  men.  I  would  like  to  state 


74  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

to  the  court  that  before  he  used  this  language  to  me,  my  assistant,  who  was  with 
me,  Major  Hall,  had  reported  to  me  that  he  had  used  similar  language  to  him, 
made  use  of  similar  expressions.  I  mention  this  to  show  the  court  that  I  am  not 
mistaken;  that  my  recollection  is  clear.  I  told  him  (Major  Hall)  I  thought  it 
incredible;  that  he  must  be  mistaken.  He  told  me  no;  that  he  had  not  only  said 
it  once,  but  twice,  and,  as  I  have  stated,  he  subsequently  made  use  of  the  same 
expression  to  me. 

Colonel  Chandler  points  out  some  things  that  might  easily  have  been 
done :  that  the  prison  pen  might,  with  little  labor,  have  been  drained 
to  a  stream  a  few  hundred  yards  off  on  lower  ground ;  that  more  wood 
might  have  been  furnished;  that  the  cook-house  should  have  been 
moved  from  the  stream  above  the  stockade,  as  also  should  the  gar 
rison  camps;  that  green  corn  should  have  been  purchased,  of  which 
he  saw  plenty,  also  cabbages  and  other  vegetables ;  that  a  large  number 
of  the  prisoners  should  be  sent  elsewhere,  or  the  stockade  much  en 
larged  ;  that  in  its  crowded  condition,  six  feet  square,  as  he  estimated, 
being  available  to  the  man,  it  was  not  possible  to  erect  shelter  or  bar 
racks.  Of  Wirz  he  said :  "Facts  have  come  to  my  knowledge  in  rela 
tion  to  Captain  Wirz  of  which  I  had  no  suspicion  at  the  time  I  recom 
mended  him  as  an  efficient  officer."  Of  the  prison  rules  he  said : 

I  cannot  speak  positively  as  to  my  recollection  of  paragraph  4  of  the  rules  sub 
mitted  by  Captain  Wirz,  which  I  did  not  approve.  My  impression  now  is  that  it 
had  reference  to  punishing  men  who  attempted  to  escape.  I  remember  having  a 
conversation  with  General  Winder  on  this  subject  and  calling  his  attention  to  the 
fact  that  it  was  the  duty  of  a  soldier  to  his  country  to  escape  if  he  could,  and  that 
it  was  his  duty  to  keep  him,  to  prevent  escape,  but  not  to  punish  him  for  doing  his 
duty,  and  he  concurred  in  that. 

We  shall  see  how  inhumanly  and  recklessly  Wirz  enforced  his  rule 
in  disregard  of  this  plain  injunction. 

Speaking  of  his  report,  Colonel  Chandler  testified : 

On  my  return  to  Richmond  in  October,  I  spoke  to  Colonel  Chilton,  chief  of  the 
bureau,  with  reference  to  my  report,  and  he  told  me  that  it  had  not  been  acted 
upon.  The  former  secretary  of  war  had  been  relieved  and  General  Breckinridge 
appointed  secretary.  At  my  instance  Colonel  Chilton  urged  the  department  to  take 
the  matter  up,  for  the  reason  that  General  Winder  had  rather  decried  the  correct 
ness  of  some  statements  that  I  had  made,  and  I  made  a  counter  report,  furnishing 
evidence  of  the  accuracy  of  my  report.  I  went  myself  to  Judge  Campbell  and 
asked  him  to  take  it  up,  and  he  promised  that  he  would  do  so.  I  do  not  believe 
it  was  ever  taken  up;  that  is  to  say,  I  do  not  think  it  was  ever  decided.  Judge 
Campbell  might  have  been  considering  it  at  the  time  of  the  evacuation. 

If  it  seemed  incredible  to  Colonel  Chandler  that  General  Winder 
should  recommend  so  atrocious  a  policy  as  that  of  starving  the  pris- 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  75 

oners  to  death  or  killing  them  off  by  exposure,  in  order  to  relieve  the 
congestion,  what  must  we  think  of  the  Richmond  authorities  who, 
knowing  what  was  transpiring  at  Andersonville,  not  only  lifted  not  a 
hand  to  stay  the  slaughter,  but  promoted  Winder  to  larger  powers  in 
his  command  over  the  prisons? 

Incredible  as  it  may  seem,  we  yet  have  the  proof  that  with  knowl 
edge  of  the  fact  that  General  Winder  proposed  to  relieve  the  crowded 
condition  of  the  prison  by  a  process  which  meant  death  to  thousands, 
the  Eichmond  authorities  promoted  him  and  increased  the  scope  of  his 
opportunities  for  further  enforcing  his  diabolical  policy. 

Further  evidence  was  introduced  to  show  what  was  done  with 
this  report. 

TESTIMONY  OF  B.  T.  H.  KEAN.  * 

I  was  employed  as  a  private  soldier  for  some  eight  or  ten  months  in  1861,  in  the 
army  of  Northern  Virginia,  then  commanded  by  General  Johnston.  From  Febru 
ary,  1862,  till  April,  1862,  I  was  assistant  adjutant-general  of  the  brigade  com 
manded  by  Brigadier-General  George  W.  Randolph.  In  April,  1862,  when  Mr. 
Randolph  became  secretary  of  war,  I  was  appointed  chief  of  the  bureau  of  war  at 
Richmond,  and  remained  so  until  April  of  the  present  year.  I  know  Mr.  Seddon's 
handwriting.  The  words  "Noted,  filed,  J.  A.  S,"  on  General  Winder's  report,  are, 
I  believe,  his  handwriting.  I  am  familiar  with  the  handwriting  of  the  assistant 
secretary,  Judge  Campbell.  The  indorsement  signed  "J.  A.  Campbell,  A.  S.  W.," 
on  Colonel  Chandler's  report,  is  in  his  handwriting.  The  brief  is  in  the  handwriting 
of  R.  B.  Welford,  who  was  a  clerk  in  the  war  office.  He  was  an  intelligent  lawyer, 
and  his  duties  were  chiefly  of  a  legal  character.  When  legal  questions  were  to  be 
investigated  they  were  referred  to  him  for  evisceration,  and  bulky  documents  were 
frequently  referred  to  him  and  he  digested  and  briefed  them;  he  would  sometimes 
at  the  same  time  express  an  opinion  on  the  contents.  I  remember  that  a  report 
was  made  by  Colonel  Chandler  with  regard  to  the  Andersonville  prison.  I  was  on 
duty  there  as  chief  of  bureau  of  war.  ...  It  was  laid  before  the  secretary  of  war, 
Mr.  Seddon,  I  think,  by  the  assistant  secretary,  Judge  Campbell.  Judge  Campbell  and 
myself  had  some  conversation  about  it.  I  am  not  quite  certain  whether  it  was  before 
or  after  it  was  submitted  to  the  secretary,  but  I  think  it  was  on  the  day  the  report 
was  received  in  the  war  office  from  the  adjutant-general's  office.  After  I  had  got 
through  with  the  press  of  my  own  duties  I  glanced  over  it  hastily,  not  having  time 
to  read  it  very  deliberately,  and  it  was  the  subject  of  some  conversation  between 
Judge  Campbell  and  myself,  the  conversation  being  some  comments  on  matters 
stated  in  the  report.  The  conversation  on  the  part  of  Judge  Campbell  is  very  well 
indexed  by  this  indorsement.  I  do  not  remember  to  have  had  any  conversation 
with  him  about  the  report  after  it  was  submitted  to  the  secretary.  ...  I  do  not 
know  that  the  report  was  acted  upon  by  the  secretary  of  war.  I  think  I  should 
have  known  it  if  it  had  been.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  I  knew  all  the  action  the 
secretary  of  war  took  by  a  great  deal,  but  it  would  probably  have  been  in  my  way 


Record,  p.  309  et  seq. 


76  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

to  know  it  if  action  had  been  taken  upon  it.  I  am  unable  to  say  how  long  it  lay 
upon  his  table.  .  .  .  The  matter  was  subsequently  called  to  his  attention.  About 
the  1st  of  February,  I  think,  a  day  or  two  before  his  resignation,  after  his  resigna 
tion  was  sent  in  and  before  it  was  accepted,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Chandler,  the  officer 
who  made  the  report,  was  in  Eichmond  for  the  purpose  of  desiring  some  action 
upon  it.  A  controversy  had  grown  up  between  him  and  General  Winder  in  reference 
to  the  subject-matter  of  the  report,  which  had  resulted  in  an  issue  of  veracity 
between  them.  That,  as  Colonel  Chandler  stated  to  me,  and  as  Colonel  Chilton, 
the  inspector-general,  adjutant-general's  office,  stated  to  me,  rendered  it  very 
desirable  to  Colonel  Chandler  that  some  disposition  should  be  made  of  the  paper. 
I  do  not  know  that  any  action  was  ever  taken  upon  it.  None  was  taken  at  that 
time.  As  I  stated,  the  resignation  was  pending  at  the  time,  and  he  went  out  of 
office  on  the  7th  of  February.  General  Breckinridge  came  into  office  on  the  8th, 
and  gave  very  little  attention  to  the  papers  from  that  time.  The  indorsement  on 
this  paper  was  made  by  me  and  that  is  my  signature.  I  was  at  that  time  acting 
chief  of  the  bureau  of  war.  This  indorsement  was  in  relation  to  the  same  report, 
and  was  the  same  matter  in  controversy  between  Colonel  Chandler  and  General 
Winder.  I  was  in  the  habit  sometimes  of  presenting  such  matters  to  the  secretary 
with  a  verbal  statement;  at  other  times  when  it  was  difficult  to  speak  to  him,  I 
would  put  the  paper  on  his  table,  with  a  memorandum  of  this  kind,  not  intended  as 
an  official  document,  but  as  a  memorandum,  merely  to  accompany  the  paper  into 
his  hands  and  draw  attention  to  it,  and  then  it  was  of  no  further  use.  This  is 
a  paper  of  that  character. 

[The  paper,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy,  was  submitted  in  evidence  by  the 
judge  advocate  and  is  appended  to  this  record:] 

Honorable  Secretary  of  War: 

These  papers  involve  a  painful  personal  issue  between  the  inspecting  officer  and 
General  Winder.  Colonel  Chilton,  acting  inspector-general,  has  requested,  for  this 
reason,  that  action  be  taken  on  them,  so  as  to  relieve  one  or  the  other  of  the 
parties.  Respectfully, 

R.  T.  H.  KEAN, 

February  6,  1865.  Chief  of  Bureau  of  War. 

From  the  way  in  which  Judge  Campbell  spoke  of  this  report  at  the  time  referred 
to  just  now,  I  think  it  excited  special  interest  on  his  part.  That  was  the  first  and 
only  conversation  I  distinctly  remember. 

Throughout  the  history  of  Andersonville,  it  will  be  found  that  Gen 
eral  Winder  was  the  moving  spirit  of  evil.  It  was  he  who  suggested  to 
Colonel  Chandler  that  it  was  better  to  let  the  prison  relieve  its  conges 
tion  by  death  than  by  enlargement, — a  sentiment  in  harmony  with  the 
policy  pursued  by  his  faithful  subordinate  Wirz.  The  removal  of 
Winder  was  urged  by  Colonel  Chandler,  but  he  was  not  only  not 
removed  but  was  promoted.  The  testimony  of  J.  B.  Jones  and  Philip 
Cashmyer  will  explain  Winder's  hold  at  the  source  of  all  power  in  the 
Confederacy :  They  testified : 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  77 


TESTIMONY  OF  j.  B.  JONES. 


I  was  a  clerk  in  the  rebel  war  department  during  the  past  four  years.  I  received 
from  the  mails  all  the  letters  addressed  to  the  secretary  of  war;  they  were  brought 
to  me  from  the  post-office  by  messengers.  It  was  my  duty  to  open  them  and  read 
them.  I  made  a  brief  synopsis  of  the  contents  and  sent  them  to  the  secretary.  The 
report  of  Colonel  Chandler  in  relation  to  the  Andersonville  Prison  was  a  report  that 
should  have  gone  to  the  adjutant-general,  but  that  document  was  sent  to  my  office 
by  mistake.  I  turned  it.  over  and  looked  at  it ;  I  did  not  pretend  to  read  it.  I  read 
a  few  heads  of  paragraphs,  and  it  was  either  sent  by  me  immediately  to  the 
secretary,  or  possibly,  probably  it  was  sent  for  by  the  secretary,  because  he  may 
have  expected  it.  I  did  not  read  lengthy  reports;  indeed  they  did  not  come  there. 
I  was  in  the  office  after  Mr.  Seddon  took  charge  of  the  war  department.  I  remained 
there  till  the  evacuation,  this  spring.  I  cannot  be  positively  certain  about  his 
custom  with  regard  to  laying  business  before  the  president,  but  he  had  frequent 
conferences  with  the  president,  almost  daily  when  they  were  both  well.  I  have  seen 
him  going  there,  taking  his  papers  himself. 

TESTIMONY  OF  PHILIP   CASHMYER.2 

For  the  last  four  years  I  was  detective  officer  under  General  Winder.  I  was  with 
General  Winder  from  the  time  he  commenced  his  duties  as  provost  marshal  until  he 
died.  I  was  his  special  confidential  detective.  Well,  my  duties  were,  any  important 
matters  such  as  detectives  have  to  attend  to  I  attended  to  for  him,  such  as  examining 
prisoners  and  making  reports  upon  them  and  matters  of  that  sort.  I  was  admitted 
into  his  family  also.  The  relations  existing  between  him  and  Mr.  Jefferson  Davis 
were  very  friendly  indeed,  very  confidential.  I  often  heard  General  Winder  say  so. 
I  often  saw  him  go  there  and  come  from  there.  I  remember  when  an  effort  was 
made  by  Generals  Bragg  and  Ransom  to  have  him  removed,  Mr.  Davis — President 
Davis — was  his  special  friend  then.  When  the  order  relieving  General  Winder 
came  from  the  war  department  he  took  it  and  went  up  to  Mr.  Davis.  The  order  was 
relieving  him  from  duty  in  Richmond.  He  took  it  and  went  over  and  saw  President 
Davis,  and  he  indorsed  on  it,  as  well  as  I  can  recollect,  "that  it  was  entirely  unneces 
sary  and  uncalled  for."  After  that  General  Winder  was  sent  to  Goldsboro,  North 
Carolina,  to  take  the  field;  he  was  there  a  week  or  two,  and  an  order  then  came 
for  him  to  go  to  Andersonville  and  take  command  there.  His  powers  were  not 
extended  for  some  months  after  that.  'They  were  then.  They  made  him  commis 
sioner-general,  commissary-general  of  prisoners.  They  called  him  commissioner- 
general.  I  still  continued  with  him  till  he  died  in  my  tent  at  Florence,  South 
Carolina.  As  well  as  I  can  recollect,  the  order  sending  W.  S.  Winder  to  Anderson 
ville  to  lay  out  the  prison  came  from  the  war  department.  General  Winder  desired 
to  send  him,  and  the  war  department  sanctioned  it.  I  saw  the  son  go  with  the 
general  down  to  the  war  department  and  come  from  there. 

There  are  certain  indisputable  facts  established  by  the  Chandler 
report  and  its  history  which  can  never  be  explained  away  nor  changed 

1  Record,  p.  419. 

2  Record,  p.  421 


78  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

nor  affected  by  inscriptions  upon  monuments  to  Wirz  or  to  any  or  all 
others  implicated  in  the  crime  of  Andersonville. 

Early  in  May,  as  we  have  seen,  the  situation  was  brought  home  to 
heads  of  departments  at  Richmond;  they  were  warned  that  the  very 
fate  which  later  befell  the  unhappy  prisoners  would  surely  overtake 
them  unless  remedial  measures  were  promptly  taken;  they  were  not 
only  not  taken,  but  every  movement  at  Richmond  aggravated  the 
existing  conditions  and  made  more  certain  the  deadly  result.  And 
when  Chandler  arrived  upon  the  scene  his  quickened  sense  of  justice 
and  humanity  revolted  at  the  picture  spread  out  before  him.  Soldier 
like  and  manlike,  he  laid  the  facts  in  their  true  light  before  his  supe 
riors  at  Richmond.  A  hundred  Union  veterans  were  dying  daily  in  a 
pen  not  fit  for  occupancy  by  dumb  animals.  Half -fed  with  indigestible 
food,  without  shelter,  many  of  the  sick  without  medical  attendance, 
and  none  of  the  sick  with  adequate  care  or  attention,  this  mass  of 
human  beings  was  crowded  into  an  open  space,  with  but  six  feet  square 
to  the  man, — a  picture  of  human  wretchedness  and  neglect  unpar 
alleled  ! 

The  record  traces  this  picture,  faithfully  drawn,  through  the  hands 
of  high  officials,  bearing  indorsements  which  left  no  doubt  of  the 
importance  of  the  document.  On  its  face  it  pointed  out  the  inhuman 
sentiment  uttered  by  the  man  Winder,  who  was  the  guiding  spirit  at 
Andersonville,  recommending  his  removal  and  the  appointment  of 
some  one  who  would  not  deliberately  say  that  it  was  better  to  let  the 
men  die  and  thus  relieve  the  survivors. 

On  this  document  as  it  passed  along  to  the  secretary  of  war  and  to 
the  President,  Adjutant-General  Cooper,  by  his  assistant,  Colonel 
Chilton,  indorsed  his  opinion  as  follows: 

The  condition  of  the  prison  at  Andersonville  is  a  reproach  to  us  as  a  nation. 
Colonel  Chandler's  recommendations  are  concurred  in. 

Assistant  Secretary  of  War  Campbell  made  this  indorsement : 

These  reports  show  a  condition  at  Andersonville  which  calls  loudly  for  inter 
position  of  the  department  in  order  that  a  change  may  be  made. 

The  evidence  was  that  the  secretary  of  war  took  no  step  to  better 
conditions  at  Andersonville.  General  Winder  was  promoted  to  a 
sphere  of  enlarged  authority  over  prisons.  The  papers  bear  the  mark : 
"Noted.  File.  J.  A.  S.,"  which  were  known  to  be  the  indorsement  of 
Secretary  of  War  Seddon.  As  late  as  February  6,  1865,  the  chief  of 
the  bureau  of  war  makes  the  following  indorsement: 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  79 

Honorable  Secretary  of  War: 

These  papers  involve  a  painful  personal  issue  between  the  inspecting  officer  and 
General  Winder.  Colonel  Chilton,  acting  inspector-general,  has  requested,  for  this 
reason,  that  action  be  taken  on  them,  so  as  to  relieve  one  or  other  of  the  parties. 

February  6,  1865.  R.  T.  H.  KEAN, 

Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  War. 

By  this  time  the  policy  of  Winder  had  been  fully  executed,  and 
nearly  thirteen  thousand  hapless,  helpless  defenders  of  the  Union  had 
perished  miserably. 

In  the  volumes  of  the  War  of  the  Eebellion  some  light  is  thrown 
upon  the  action  of  the  rebel  war  department.  The  following  letter 
written  by  Major  Hall  will  be  read  with  interest : 

WYTHEVILLE,  November  22,  1864.1 
COLONEL  R.  H.  CHILTON, 

Assistant  Adjutant  and  Inspector-General,  Eichmond. 

COLONEL:  I  am  surprised  to  see  that  Captain  Wirz,  commanding  prison  at 
Andersonville,  Ga.,  in  his  report  of  27th  of  September,  makes  me  responsible  for 
the  following:  "Major  Hall  remarked  that  it,  the  prison  at  Andersonville,  was 
about  on  par  with  the  Federal  prison  on  Johnson's  Island."  I  did  not  express  any 
such  opinion,  nor  did  I  ever  use  any  language,  which  the  utmost  ingenuity  could 
pervert  into  such  a  misrepresentation  of  my  conviction. 

The  report  of  inspection  of  the  post  and  prison  at  Andersonville  forwarded  by 
Colonel  Chandler,  assistant  adjutant  and  inspector-general,  5th  of  August  ultimo, 
was  made  by  notes  taken  by  both  of  us  on  the  spot.  He  consulted  with  me  while 
preparing  it,  and  as  you  will  perceive,  the  fair  copy  is  in  my  handwriting.  I  fully 
concur  in  it.  Colonel  Chandler's  communication  to  you  of  this  date  is  also  in 
accordance  with  my  observation  of  the  facts  and  the  statements  in  which  reference 
is  made  to  me  and  with  my  full  knowledge  and  consent.  My  recollection  of  General 
Winder's  language,  quoted  by  Colonel  Chandler  and  Captain  Wirz,  relative  to  the 
issue  of  peas,  rice,  fuel,  etc.,  is  clear  and  distinct.  No  vestige  remained  of  the 
1,000  posts  to  which  Captain  Wirz  refers  and  no  allusion  to  them  was  made.  The 
only  hut  or  other  building  in  the  stockade  was  a  small  frame  house  used  exclusively 
as  a  sutler's  shop.  On  each  of  my  visits  of  inspection  to  the  interior  of  the 
stockade,  I  noticed  a  large  number  of  men  digging  in  the  marsh  for  roots  and 
learning  their  purpose,  called  Colonel  Chandler's  attention  to  the  fact.  At  my 
request,  Captain  Wirz  went  with  me  to  the  stockade  on  one  occasion  specially  to 
attend  "sick  call,"  as  I  desired  to  obtain  accurate  information  in  regard  to  the 
manner  of  conducting  it. 

I  am,  colonel,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  CARVEL  HALL, 
Major  and  Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

This  letter  was  sent  to  the  war  department  at  Richmond,  at  its 
request,  for  an  explanation  of  the  damaging  report  made  by  Colonel 
Chandler  in  August.  It  seems  that  the  war  department  was  busying 
itself  to  discredit  Colonel  Chandler's  report  and  him  personally,  when 
it  ought  to  have  been  putting  forth  every  possible  effort  to  relieve 
the  conditions  at  Andersonville  which  were  pronounced  a  "disgrace  to 
the  Confederacy"  by  official  reports.  The  carnival  of  death  was  allowed 


War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  VII,  series  2,  p.    1156. 


80  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

to  proceed  unchecked,  in  pursuance  of  the  policy  announced  by  Gen 
eral  Winder  to  Colonel  Chandler,  that  it  was  better  to  let  the  con 
dition  of  congestion  in  the  prison  be  relieved  by  death  than  by  any 
of  the  means  recommended. 

Major  Hall  reiterates  the  fact  that  he  saw  many  men  digging  in 
the  swamp  for  roots  for  fuel.  Kemembering  what  a  disgusting  and 
offensive  place  this  swamp  had  become,  saturated  as  it  was  with  human 
excrement,  we  may  understand  the  meaning  of  the  lack  of  fuel  to 
cook  the  raw  rations  issued  to  the  prisoners,  when  men  would  resort 
to  such  a  place  for  what  existed  in  abundance  within  sight  of  the 
prison  and  the  prisoners  begging  for  the  privilege  to  go  after  it. 

By  far  the  most  comprehensive  report  made  of  the  prison  conditions 
at  Andersonville  was  made  by  Dr.  Joseph  Jones,  who  tells  us  that 
while  on  a  visit  to  Richmond,  in  August,  1864,  "hearing  of  the  unusual 
mortality  among  the  Federal  prisoners  at  Andersonville,  he  expressed 
to  the  surgeon-general,  S.  P.  Moore,  C.  S.  A.,  a  desire  to  visit  Camp 
Sumter,  with  the  design  of  instituting  a  series  of  inquiries  upon  the 
nature  and  causes  of  the  prevailing  diseases." 

It  will  be  seen  that  he  was  sent  by  the  surgeon-general,  not  to  devise 
methods  to  alleviate  any  suffering  which  he  might  find  to  exist  among 
the  prisoners,  but  "in  order  that  this  great  field  for  pathological  in 
vestigation  may  be  explored  for  the  'benefit  of  the  medical  department 
of  the  Confederate  army."  Surgeon-General  Moore  confessedly  knew 
at  that  time  the  conditions  there  existing  and  his  letter  of  introduction 
is  dated  August  6,  1864.  It  is  true,  as  will  appear,  that  Dr.  Jones's 
report  never  reached  Surgeon-General  Moore,  as  explained  by  Dr. 
Jones,  but  the  facts  recorded  by  him  are  none  the  less  important  or 
significant  in  the  inquiry  we  are  making,  and  were  known  at  Richmond 
through  other  sources.1  This  report  is  valuable  to  the  medical  pro 
fession,  but  for  our  present  purpose  it  furnishes  indubitable  proof 
that  the  horrors  of  Andersonville  have  not  been  overdrawn,  and  it 
corroborates  in  many  particulars  the  report  of  Colonel  Chandler;  in 
fact,  for  graphic  and  soul-harrowing  description  of  human  suffering, 
it  excels  anything  spoken  by  witnesses  who  were  themselves  victims. 

Surgeon  Jones  testified  that  he  went  to  Andersonville  about  Septem 
ber  16,  1864,  and  that  after  examining  the  prison  hospital  he  entered 
the  prison  pen.  His  permit  is  dated  September  17,  1864,  and  he  says 
that  he  spent  three  weeks  in  his  examination  of  the  sick  in  the  hospital 


But  see  preliminary  report  by  Dr.   Jones,   infra. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDEBATES.  81 

and  in  the  stockade,  going  so  far  in  his  investigations,  as  he  testified, 
to  make  "some  score  of  post-mortem  examinations."  With  this  intro 
duction  to  this  important  evidence,  let  the  record  speak.1 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  JOSEPH  JONES. 
By  the  JUDGE  ADVOCATE: 

Q.     Where  do  you  reside? 

A.     In  Augusta,  Georgia. 

Q.     Are  you  a  graduate  of  any  medical  college? 

A.     Of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 

Q.     How  long  have  you  been  engaged  in  the  practice  of  medicine? 

A.     Eight  years. 

Q.     Has  your  experience  been  as  a  practitioner,  or  rather  as  an  investigator  of 
medicine  as  a  science? 

A.     Both. 

Q.     What  position  do  you  hold  now? 

A.     That  of  medical  chemist  in  the  Medical  College  of  Georgia,  at  Augusta. 

Q.     How  long  have  you  held  your  position  in  that  college? 

A.     Since  1858. 

Q.     How  were  you  employed  during  the  Eebellion? 

A.     I  served  six  months  in  the  early  part  of  it  as  a  private  in  the  ranks,  and 
the  rest  of  the  time  in  the  medical  department. 

Q.     Under  the  direction  of  whom? 

A.     Under  the  direction  of  Dr.  Moore,  surgeon-general. 

Q.     Did  you,  while  acting  under  his  direction,  visit  Andersonville,  professionally? 

A.     Yes,  sir. 

Q.     For  the  purpose  of  making  investigations  there? 

A.     For  the  purpose  of  prosecuting  investigations  ordered  by  the  surgeon-general. 

Q.     You  went  there  in  obedience  to  a  letter  of  instructions? 

A.     In  obedience  to  orders  which  I  received. 

Q.     Did  you  reduce  the  results  of  your  investigations  to  the  shape  of  a  report? 

A.     I  was  engaged  at  that  work  when  General  Johnston  surrendered  his  army. 
[A  document  being  handed  to  witness.] 

Q.     Have  you  examined  this  extract  from  your  report  and  compared  it  with 
the  original? 

A.     Yes,  sir;  I  have. 

Q.     Is  it  accurate? 

A.     So  far  as  my  examination  extended,  it  is  accurate.     [The  document  just 
examined  by  witness  was  offered  in  evidence,  and  is  as  follows :  ] 

Observations  upon  the  diseases  of  the  Federal  prisoners,  confined  in  Camp  Burnt er, 
Andersonville,  in  Sumter  County,  Georgia,  instituted  with  a  view  to  illustrate 
chiefly  the  origin  and  causes  of  hospital  gangrene,  the  relations  of  continued  and 
malarial  fevers  and  the  pathology  of  camp  diarrhoea  and  dysentery,  ~by  Joseph 
Jones,  surgeon  P.  A.  C.  S.,  professor  of  medical  chemistry  in  the  Medical  College 
of  Georgia,  at  Augusta,  Georgia. 


Record,  p.  618  et  seq. 


82  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

Hearing  of  the  unusual  mortality  among  the  Federal  prisoners  confined  at 
Andersonville,  Georgia,  in  the  month  of  August,  1864,  during  a  visit  to  Richmond, 
Virginia,  I  expressed  to  the  surgeon-general,  S.  P.  Moore,  Confederate  States  of 
America,  a  desire  to  visit  Camp  Sumter,  with  the  design  of  instituting  a  series  of 
inquiries  upon  the  nature  and  causes  of  the  prevailing  diseases.  Smallpox  had 
appeared  among  the  prisoners,  and  I  believed  that  this  would  prove  an  admirable 
field  for  the  establishment  of  its  characteristic  lesions.  The  condition  of  Peyer's 
glands  in  this  disease  was  considered  as  worthy  of  minute  investigation.  It  was 
believed  that  a  large  body  of  men  from  the  northern  portion  of  the  United  States, 
suddenly  transported  to  a  warm  southern  climate,  and  confined  upon  a  small  portion 
of  land,  would  furnish  an  excellent  field  for  the  investigation  of  the  relations  of 
typhus,  typhoid,  and  malarial  fevers. 

The  surgeon-general  Confederate  States  of  America  furnished  me  with  the  fol 
lowing  letter  of  introduction  to  the  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  Confederate  States 
military  prison  at  Andersonville,  Georgia: 

CONFEDERATE  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  SURGEON-GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 
RICHMOND,  VIRGINIA,  August  6,  1864. 

SIR:  The  field  of  pathological  investigations  afforded  by  the  large  collection  of 
Federal  prisoners  in  Georgia,  is  of  great  extent  and  importance,  and  it  is  believed 
that  results  of  value  to  the  profession  may  be  obtained  by  a  careful  investigation 
of  the  effects  of  disease  upon  the  large  body  of  men  subjected  to  a  decided  change 
of  climate  and  the  circumstances  peculiar  to  prison  life.  The  surgeon  in  charge  of 
the  hospital  for  Federal  prisoners,  together  with  his  assistants,  will  afford  every 
facility  to  Surgeon  Joseph  Jones,  in  the  prosecution  of  the  labors  ordered  by  the 
surgeon-general.  Efficient  assistance  must  be  rendered  Surgeon  Jones  by  the 
medical  officers,  not  only  in  his  examinations  into  the  causes  and  symptoms  of  the 
various  diseases,  but  especially  in  the  arduous  labors  of  post  mortem  examinations. 

The  medical  officers  will  assist  in  the  performance  of  such  post  mortems  as 
Surgeon  Jones  may  indicate,  in  order  that  this  great  field  for  pathological  investiga 
tion  may  be  explored  for  the  benefit  of  the  medical  department  of  the  Confederate 
.army.  '  S.  P.  MOORE,  Surgeon-General. 

Surgeon  ISAIAH  H.  WHITE, 

In  charge  of  hospital  for  Federal  prisoners,  Andersonville,  Georgia. 

In  compliance  with  this  letter  of  the  surgeon-general,  Isaiah  H.  White,  chief 
surgeon  of  the  post,  and  R.  R.  Stevenson,  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  prison  hospital, 
afforded  the  necessary  facilities  for  the  prosecution  of  my  investigations  among 
the  sick  outside  of  the  stockade.  After  the  completion  of  my  labors  in  the  military 
prison  hospital,  the  following  communication  was  addressed  to  Brigadier-General 
John  H.  Winder,  in  consequence  of  the  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  commandant  of 
the  interior  of  the  Confederate  States  military  prison  to  admit  me  within  the 
«tockade  upon  the  order  of  the  surgeon-general: 

CAMP  SUMTER, 

ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  September  16,  1864. 

GENERAL:  I  respectfully  request  the  commandant  of  the  post  of  Andersonville 
to  grant  me  permission  and  to  furnish  the  necessary  pass  to  visit  the  sick  and 
medical  officers  within  the  stockade  of  the  Confederate  States  prison.  I  desire  to 
institute  certain  inquiries  ordered  by  the  surgeon-general.  Surgeon  Isaiah  H. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDEEATES.  83 

White,  chief  surgeon  of  the  post,  and  Surgeon  E.  E.  Stevenson  in  charge  of  the 
prison  hospital,  have  afforded  me  every  facility  for  the  prosecution  of  my  labors 
among  the  sick  outside  of  the  stockade. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

JOSEPH  JONES,  Surgeon  P.  S.  C.  S. 
Brigadier-General  JOHN  H.  WINDER, 

Commandant,  Post  Andersonville. 

In  the  absence  of  General  Winder  from  the  post,  Captain  Winder  furnished  the 
following  order : 

CAMP  SUMTER, 

ANDERSONVILLE,  September  17,  1864. 

CAPTAIN  :  You  will  permit  Surgeon  Joseph  Jones,  who  has  orders  from  the 
surgeon-general,  to  visit  the  sick  within  the  stockade  that  are  under  medical  treat 
ment.  Surgeon  Jones  is  ordered  to  make  certain  investigations  which  may  prove 
useful  to  his  profession. 

By  direction  of  General  Winder: 

Very  respectfully, 

W.  S.  WINDER,  A.  A.  G. 
Captain  H.  WIRZ,  Commanding  Prison. 

Description  of  the  Confederate  States  Military  Prison  Hospital  at  Andersonville. 
Number  of  Prisoners,  Physicial  Condition,  Food,  Clothing,  Habits,  Moral  Con 
dition,  Diseases. 

The  Confederate  military  prison  at  Andersonville,  Georgia,  consists  of  a  strong 
stockade,  20  feet  in  height,  enclosing  27  acres.  The  stockade  is  formed  of  strong 
pine  logs,  firmly  planted  in  the  ground.  The  main  stockade  is  surrounded  by  two 
other  similar  rows  of  pine  logs,  the  middle  stockade  being  16  feet  high,  and  the 
outer  12  feet.  These  are  intended  for  offence  and  defence.  If  the  inner  stockade 
should  at  any  time  be  forced  by  the  prisoners,  the  second  forms  another  line  of 
defence;  while  in  case  of  an  attempt  to  deliver  the  prisoners  by  a  force  operating 
upon  the  exterior,  the  outer  line  forms  an  admirable  protection  to  the  Confederate 
troops,  and  a  most  formidable  obstacle  to  cavalry  or  infantry.  The  four  angles  of 
the  outer  line  are  strengthened  by  earthworks  upon  commanding  eminences,  from 
which  the  cannon,  in  case  of  an  outbreak  among  the  prisoners,  may  sweep  the 
entire  enclosure;  and  it  was  designed  to  connect  these  works  by  a  line  of  rifle-pits, 
running  zig-zag,  around  the  outer  stockade;  these  rifle-pits  have  never  been  com 
pleted.  The  ground  enclosed  by  the  innermost  stockade  lies  in  the  form  of  a 
parallelogram,  the  larger  diameter  running  almost  due  north  and  south.  This 
space  includes  the  northern  and  southern  opposing  sides  of  two  hills,  between 
which  a  stream  of  water  runs  from  west  to  east.  The  surface  soil  of  these  hills  is 
composed  chiefly  of  sand,  with  varying  admixtures  of  clay  and  oxide  of  iron.  The 
clay  is  sufficiently  tenacious  to  give  a  considerable  degree  of  consistency  to  the 
soil.  The  internal  structure  of  the  hills,  as  revealed  by  the  deep  wells,  is  similar  to 
that  already  described.  The  alternate  layers  of  clay  and  sand,  as  well  as  the  oxide 
of  iron,  which  forms  in  its  various  combinations  a  cement  to  the  sand,  allow  of 
extensive  tunneling.  The  prisoners  not  only  constructed  numerous  dirt  huts  with 
balls  of  clay  and  sand,  taken  from  the  wells  which  they  have  excavated  all  over 
those  hills,  but  they  have  also,  in  some  cases,  tunneled  extensively  from  these  wells. 
The  lower  portions  of  these  hills,  bordering  on  the  stream,  are  wet  and  boggy  from 
the  constant  oozing  of  water.  The  stockade  was  built  originally  to  accommodate 


84  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

only  lOj'OOO  prisoners,  and  included  at  first  17  acres.  Near  the  close  of  the  month 
of  June,  the  area  was  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  10  acres.i  The  ground  added 
was  situated  on  the  northern  slope  of  the  largest  hill. 

The  following  table  presents  a  view  of  the  density  of  the  population  of  the 
prison,  at  different  periods: 

Table  illustrating  the  mean  number  of  prisoners  in  the  Confederate  States  military 
prison  at  Andersonville,  Georgia,  from  its  organisation,  February  24,  1864,  to 
September,  1864,  and  the  average  number  of  square  feet  of  ground  to  each 
prisoner. 

Mean  strength  Area  of  Average  number  of 

of  Federal  stockade  in         square  feet  allowed 

prisoners.  square  feet.  to  each  prisoner. 

March,  1864  7,500  740,520  98.7 

April,  1864 10,000  740,520  74 

May,   1864    15,000  740,520  49.3 

June,  1864 22,291  740,520  33.2 

July,  1864 29,030  1,176,120  40.5 

August,  1864   32,899  1,176,120  35.7 

Within  the  circumscribed  area  of  the  stockade  the  Federal  prisoners  were  com 
pelled  to  perform  all  the  offices  of  life — cooking,  washing,  urinating,  defecation, 
exercise,  and  sleeping.  During  the  month  of  March  the  prison  was  less  crowded 
than  at  any  subsequent  time,  and  then  the  average  space  of  ground  to  each  prisoner 
was  only  98.7  feet,  or  less  than  seven  square  yards.  The  Federal  prisoners  were 
gathered  from  all  parts  of  the  Confederate  States  east  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
crowded  into  the  confined  space,  until  in  the  month  of  June  the  average  number  of 
square  feet  of  ground  to  each  prisoner  was  only  33.2,  or  less  than  four  square 
yards.  These  figures  represent  the  condition  of  the  stovkade  in  a  better  light  even 
than  it  really  was;  for  a  considerable  breadth  of  land  along  the  stream,  flowing 
from  west  to  east,  between  the  hills,  was  low  and  boggy,  and  was  covered  with  the 
excrement  of  the  men,  and  thus  rendered  wholly  uninhabitable,  and  in  fact  useless 
for  every  purpose  except  that  of  defecation.  The  pines  and  other  small  trees  and 
shrubs,  which  originally  were  scattered  sparsely  over  these -hills,  were  in  a  short 
time  cut  down  and  consumed  by  the  prisoners  for  firewood,  and  no  shade  tree  was 
left  in  the  entire  enclosure  of  the  stockade.  With  their  "characteristic  industry  and 
ingenuity,  the  Federals  constructed  for  themselves  small  huts  and  caves,  and 
attempted  to  shield  themselves  from  the  rain  and  sun  and  night  damps  and  dew. 
But  few  tents  were  distributed  to  the  prisoners,  and  those  were  in  most  cases  torn 
and  rotten.  In  the  location  and  arrangement  of  these  tents  and  huts  no  order 
appears  to  have  been  followed;  in  fact,  regular  streets  appeared  to  be  out  of  the 
question  in  so  crowded  an  area;  especially,  too,  as  large  bodies  of  prisoners  were 
from  time  to  time  added  suddenly  without  any  previous  preparations.  The  irregular 
arrangement  of  the  huts  and  imperfect  shelters  was  very  unfavorable  for  the  main 
tenance  of  a  proper  system  of  police. 

The  police  and  internal  economy  of  the  prison  was  left  almost  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  the  prisoners  themselves;  the  duties  of  the  Confederate  soldiers  acting 
as  guards  being  limited  to  the  occupation  of  the  boxes  or  lookouts  ranged  around 
the  stockade  at  regular  intervals,  and  to  the  manning  of  the  batteries  at  the  angles 
of  the  prison.  Even  judicial  matters  pertaining  to  themselves,  as  the  detection 


1  Other  reports  and  most  of  the  authorities  say  the  stockade  was  enlarged  about  one-third. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCEIBED  BY  CONFEDEEATES.  85 

and  punishment  of  such  crimes  as  theft  and  murder,  appear  to  have  been  in  a 
great  measure  abandoned  to  the  prisoners.  A  striking  instance  of  this  occurred  in 
the  month  of  July,  when  the  Federal  prisoners  within  the  stockade  tried,  con 
demned,  and  hanged  six  (6)  of  their  own  number,  who  had  been  convicted  of 
stealing  and  of  robbing  and  murdering  their  fellow-prisoners.  They  were  all  hung 
upon  the  same  day,  and  thousands  of  the  prisoners  gathered  around  to  witness  the 
execution.  The  Confederate  authorities  are  said  not  to  have  interfered  with  these 
proceedings.  In  this  collection  of  men  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  every  phase  of 
human  character  was  represented;  the  stronger  preyed  upon  the  weaker,  and  even 
the  sick  who  were  unable  to  defend  themselves  were  robbed  of  their  scanty  supplies 
of  food  and  clothing.  Dark  stories  were  afloat,  of  men,  both  sick  and  well,  who 
were  murdered  at  night,  strangled  to  death  by  their  comrades  for  scant  supplies  of 
clothing  or  money.  I  heard  a  sick  and  wounded  Federal  prisoner  accuse  his 
nurse,  a  fellow-prisoner  of  the  United  States  army,  of  having  stealthily,  during  his 
sleep,  inoculated  his  wounded  arm  with  gangrene,  that  he  might  destroy  his  life 
and  fall  heir  to  his  clothing. 


The  large  number  of  men  confined  within  the  stockade  soon,  under  a  defective 
system  of  police,  and  with  imperfect  arrangements,  covered  the  surface  of  the  low 
grounds  with  excrements.  The  sinks  over  the  lower  portions  of  the  stream  were 
imperfect  in  their  plan  and  structure,  and  the  excrements  were  in  large  measure 
deposited  so  near  the  borders  of  the  stream  as  not  to  be  washed  away,  or  else 
accumulated  upon  the  low  boggy  ground.  The  volume  of  water  was  not  sufficient 
to  wash  away  the  feces,  and  they  accumulated  in  such  quantities  in  the  lower 
portion  of  the  stream  as  to  form  a  mass  of  liquid  excrement.  Heavy  rains  caused 
the  water  of  the  stream  to  rise,  and  as  the  arrangements  for  the  passage  of  the 
increased  amounts  of  water  out  of  the  stockade  were  insufficient,  the  liquid  feces 
overflowed  the  low  grounds  and  covered  them  several  inches,  after  the  subsidence  of 
the  waters.  The  action  of  the  sun  upon  this  putrefying  mass  of  excrements  and 
fragments  of  bread  and  meat  and  bones  excited  most  rapid  fermentation  and 
developed  a  horrible  stench.  Improvements  were  projected  for  the  removal  of  the 
filth  and  for  the  prevention  of  its  accumulation,  but  they  were  only  partially  and 
imperfectly  carried  out.  As  the  forces  of  the  prisoners  were  reduced  by  confine 
ment,  want  of  exercise,  improper  diet,  and  by  scurvy,  diarrhoea,  and  dysentery, 
they  were  unable  to  evacuate  their  bowels  within  the  stream  or  along  its  banks, 
and  the  excrements  were  deposited  at  the  very  doors  of  their  tents.  The  vast 
majority  appeared  to  lose  all  repulsion  to  filth,  and  both  sick  and  well  disregarded 
all  the  laws  of  hygiene  and  personal  cleanliness.  The  accommodations  for  the  sick 
were  imperfect  and  insufficient.  From  the  organization  of  the  prison,  February 
24,  1864,  to  May  22nd,  the  sick  were  treated  within  the  stockade.  In  the  crowded 
condition  of  the  stockade,  and  with  the  tents  and  huts  clustered  thickly  around 
the  hospital,  it  was  impossible  to  secure  proper  ventilation  or  to  maintain  the 
necessary  police.  The  Federal  prisoners  also  made  frequent  forays  upon  the 
hospital  stores  and  carried  off  the  food  and  clothing  of  the  sick.  The  hospital 
was,  on  the  22nd  of  May,  removed  to  its  present  site  without  the  stockade,  and 
five  acres  of  ground  covered  with  oaks  and  pines  appropriated  to  the  use  of  the 
sick. 


86  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

The  supply  of  medical  officers  has  been  insufficient  from  the  foundation  of  the 
prison. 

The  nurses  and  attendants  upon  the  sick  have  been  most  generally  Federal 
prisoners,  who  in  too  many  cases  appear  to  have  been  devoid  of  moral  principle, 
and  who  not  only  neglected  their  duties,  but  were  also  engaged  in  extensive  robbing 
of  the  sick. 

From  the  want  of  proper  police  and  hygienic  regulations  alone  it  is  not  wonder 
ful  that  from  February  24  to  September  21,  1864,  9,479  deaths,  nearly  one-third 
the  entire  number  of  prisoners,  should  have  been  recorded.  I  found  the  stockade 
and  hospital  in  the  following  condition  during  my  pathological  investigations, 
instituted  in  the  month  of  September,  1864: 

At  the  time  of  my  visit  to  Andersonville  a  large  number  of  Federal  prisoners 
had  been  removed  to  Millen,  Savannah,  Charleston,  and  other  parts  of  the  Con 
federacy,  in  anticipation  of  an  advance  of  General  Sherman's  forces  from  Atlanta, 
with  the  design  of  liberating  their  captive  brethren;  however,  about  15,000 
prisoners  remained  confined  within  the  limits  of  the  stockade  and  Confederate 
States  military  prison  hospital. 

In  the  stockade,  with  the  exception  of  the  damp  lowlands  bordering  the  small 
stream,  the  surface  was  covered  with  huts,  and  small  ragged  tents  and  parts  of 
blankets  and  fragments  of  oilcloth,  coats,  and  blankets  stretched  upon  sticks. 
The  tents  and  huts  were  not  arranged  according  to  any  order,  and  there  was  in 
most  parts  of  the  enclosure  scarcely  room  for  two  men  to  walk  abreast  between 
the  tents  and  huts.  I  observed  men  urinating  and  evacuating  their  bowels  at  the 
very  tent  doors  and  around  the  little  vessels  in  which  they  were  cooking  their  food. 
Small  pits,  not  more  than  a  foot  or  two  deep,  nearly  filled  with  soft  offensive  feces, 
were  everywhere  seen,  and  emitted  under  the  hot  sun  a  strong  and  disgusting  odor. 
Masses  of  corn-bread,  bones,  old  rags,  and  filth  of  every  description  were  scattered 
around  or  accumulated  in  large  piles. 

If  one  might  judge  from  the  large  pieces  of  corn-bread  scattered  about  in  every 
direction  on  the  ground,  the  prisoners  were  either  very  lavishly  supplied  with  this 
article  of  diet,  or  else  this  kind  of  food  was  not  relished  by  them. 

Each  day  the  dead  from  the  stockade  were  carried  out  by  their  fellow-prisoners 
and  deposited  upon  the  ground  under  a  bush  arbor,  just  outside  the  southwestern 
gate.  From  thence  they  were  carried  in  carts  to  the  burying  ground,  one-quarter  of 
a  mile  northwest  of  the  prison.  The  dead  were  buried  without  coffins,  side  by  side, 
in  trenches  four  feet  deep. 

The  low  grounds  bordering  the  stream  were  covered  with  human  excrements  and 
filth  of  all  kinds,  which  in  many  places  appeared  to  be  alive  with  working  maggots. 
An  indescribable  sickening  stench  arose  from  these  fermenting  masses  of  human 
dung  and  filth. 

There  were  nearly  5,000  seriously  ill  Federals  in  the  stockade  and  Confederate 
States  military  prison  hospital,  and  the  deaths  exceeded  one  hundred  per  day,  and 
large  numbers  of  the  prisoners  who  were  walking  about,  and  who  had  not  been 
entered  upon  the  sick  reports,  were  suffering  from  severe  and  incurable  diarrhoea, 
dysentery,  and  scurvy.  The  sick  were  attended  almost  entirely  by  their  fellow- 
prisoners,  appointed  as  nurses,  and  as  they  received  but  little  attention,  they 
were  compelled  to  exert  themselves  at  all  times  to  attend  to  the  calls  of  nature. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDEBATES. 


87 


and  hence  they  retained  the  power  of  moving  about  to  within  a  comparatively  short 
period  of  the  close  of  life.  Owing  to  the  slow  progress  of  the  diseases  most 
prevalent,  diarrhea,  and  chronic  dysentery,  the  corpses  were  as  a  general  rule 
emaciated. 

I  visited  two  thousand  sick  within  the  stockade,  lying  under  some  long  sheds 
which  had  been  built  at  the  northern  portion  for  themselves.  At  this  time  only  one 
medical  officer  was  in  attendance,  whereas  at  least  20  medical  officers  should  have 
been  employed. 

I  found  no  record  of  the  sick  in  the  stockade  previous  to  September  14,  1864. 
It  appears  that  previous  to  this  date  no  record  was  preserved  of  the  diseases 
treated  within  the  stockade;  and  the  following  includes  all  the  medical  statistics 
which  I  was  able  to  collect  within  the  prison  walls  proper : 


Morning  reports  of  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  F.  J.  Wells,  in  charge  of  Federal 
sick  and  wounded  in  stoclcade. 


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O 

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1864. 

September  14     .... 

936 

64 

1,000 

76 

36 

888 

September  15  

888 

515 

1,403 

114 

58 

1,231 

September  16   

1,231 

13 

1,244 

16 

70 

1,159 

September  17  

1,159 

88 

1,247 

109 

36 

1,102 

September  18   

1,102 

906 

2,008 

3 

50 

1,955 

September  19 

1,955 

1,955 

32 

42 

1,881 

September  20   

1,881 

1,881 

63 

44 

1,774 

If  this  table  be  compared  with  the  following  one,  from  the  Confederate  States 
military  prison  hospital,  during  the  same  period,  we  will  see  that  the  number  of 
deaths  was  as  great  in  the  stockade  as  in  the  hospital;  notwithstanding  the 
disparity  in  the  number  of  medical  officers  of  attendance  upon  the  sick  in  both 
instances,  being  346  in  the  former  and  344  in  the  latter. 


88 


THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 


Consolidated  morning  reports  of  Surgeon  E.  K.  Stevenson,  in  cliarge  of  Confederate 
States  military  prison  hospital,  Andersonville,  September  14-20,  1864. 


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Sept.  14... 

1,609 

76 

1,685 

1 

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49 

37 

1,598 

3 

11 

8 

22 

Sept.  15  ... 

1,598 

114 

1,712 

14 

47 

1,651 

3 

11 

8 

22 

Sept.  16..  . 

1,651 

16 

1^667 

1 

49 

1,617 

3 

11 

8 

22 

Sept.  17... 

1,617 

109 

4 

1,730 

. 

40 

1,690 

3 

11 

8 

22 

Sept.  18..  . 

1,690 

3 

1,693 

58 

1,635 

3 

11 

9 

23 

Sept.  19... 

1,635 

32 

1 

1,668 

. 

2 

. 

55 

1,611 

3 

11 

9 

23 

Sept.  20.  .. 

1,611 

63 

2 

1,676 

48 

1,628 

3 

11 

9 

23 

Died  in  stockade,  from  its  organization,  February  24,  1864,  to  September  21,     3,254 
Died  in  hospital  during  same  time 6,225 

Total  deaths  in  hospital  and  stockade 9,479 

Scurvy,  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  and  hospital  gangrene  were  the  prevailing  diseases. 
I  was  surprised  to  find  but  few  cases  of  malarial  fever,  and  no  well-marked  cases 
either  of  typhus  or  typhoid  fever.  The  absence  of  the  different  forms  of  malarial 
fever  may  be  accounted  for  in  the  supposition  that  the  artificial  atmosphere  of 
the  stockade,  crowded  densely  with  human  beings  and  loaded  with  animal  exhala 
tions,  was  unfavorable  to  the  existence  and  action  of  the  malarial  poison.  The 
absence  of  typhoid  and  typhus  fevers  amongst  all  the  causes  which  are  supposed 
to  generate  these  diseases,  appeared  to  be  due  to  the  fact  that  the  great  majority 
of  these  prisoners  had  been  in  captivity  in  Virginia,  at  Belle  Island,  and  in  other 
parts  of  the  Confederacy  for  months,  and  even  as  long  as  two  years,  and  during 
this  time  they  had  been  subjected  to  the  same  bad  influences,  and  those  who  had 
not  had  these  fevers  before  either  had  them  during  their  confinement  in  Con 
federate  prisons  or  else  their  systems,  from  long  exposure,  were  proof  against 
their  action. 

The  effects  of  scurvy  were  manifested  on  every  hand,  and  in  all  its  various 
stages,  from  the  muddy,  pale  complexion,  pale  gums,  feeble,  languid  muscular 
motions,  lowness  of  spirits,  and  foetid  breath,  to  the  dusky,  dirty,  leaden  complexion, 
swollen  features,  spongy,  purple,  livid,  fungoid,  bleeding  gums,  loose  teeth, 
ffidematous  limbs  covered  with  livid  vibices,  and  petechise,  spasmodically  flexed, 
painful  and  hardened  extremities,  spontaneous  hemorrhages  from  mucous  canals, 
and  large  ill-conditioned  spreading  ulcers  covered  with  a  dark  purplish  fungus 
growth.  I  observed  that  in  some  of  the  cases  of  scurvy  the  parotid  glands  were 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDEEATES.  89 

greatly  swollen,  and  in  some  instances  to  such  an  extent  as  to  preclude  entirely 
the  power  to  articulate.  In  several  cases  of  dropsy  of  the  abdomen  and  lower 
extremities,  supervening  upon  scurvy,  the  patients  affirmed  that  previously  to  the 
appearance  of  the  dropsy  they  had  suffered  with  profuse  and  obstinate  diarrhoea, 
and  that  when  this  was  checked  by  a  change  of  diet,  from  Indian  corn  bread  baked 
with  the  husk,  to  boiled  rice,  the  dropsy  appeared.  The  severe  pains  and  livid 
patches  were  frequently  associated  with  swellings  in  various  parts,  and  especially 
in  the  lower  extremities,  accompanied  with  stiffness  and  contractions  of  the  knee 
joints  and  ankles,  and  often  with  a  brawny  feel  of  the  parts,  as  if  lymph  had  been 
effused  between  the  integuments  and  aponeurosis,  preventing  the  motion  of  the 
skin  over  the  swollen  parts.  Many  of  the  prisoners  believed  that  the  scurvy  was 
contagious,  and  I  saw  men  guarding  their  wells  and  springs,  fearing  lest  some 
man  suffering  with  the  scurvy  might  use  the  water  and  thus  poison  them.  I 
observed  also  numerous  cases  of  hospital  gangrene  and  of  spreading  scorbutic 
ulcers,  which  had  supervened  upon  slight  injuries.  The  scorbutic  ulcers  presented  a 
dark,  purple  fungoid,  elevated  surface,  with  livid  swollen  edges,  and  exuded  a  thin, 
foetid,  sanious  fluid  instead  of  pus.  Many  ulcers  which  originated  from  the  scor 
butic  condition  of  the  system  appeared  to  become  truly  gangrenous,  assuming  all 
the  characteristics  of  hospital  gangrene.  From  the  crowded  condition,  filthy  habits, 
bad  diet,  and  dejected,  depressed  condition  of  the  prisoners,  their  systems  had 
become  so  disordered  that  the  smallest  abrasion  of  the  skin  from  the  rubbing  of  a 
shoe,  or  from  the  effects  of  the  sun,  or  from  the  prick  of  a  splinter,  or  from 
scratching,  or  a  mosquito  bite,  in  some  cases,  took  on  rapid  and  frightful  ulceration 
and  gangrene.  The  long  use  of  salt  meat,  ofttimes  imperfectly  cured,  as  well  as 
the  almost  total  deprivation  of  vegetables  and  fruit,  appeared  to  be  the  chief 
causes  of  the  scurvy.  I  carefully  examined  the  bakery  and  the  bread  furnished 
the  prisoners,  and  found  that  they  were  supplied  almost  entirely  with  corn  bread 
from  which  the  husk  had  not  been  separated.  This  husk  acted  as  an  irritant  to  the 
alimentary  canal,  without  adding  any  nutriment  to  the  bread.  As  far  as  my 
examination  extended,  no  fault  could  be  found  with  the  mode  in  which  the  bread 
was  baked;  the  difficulty  lay  in  the  failure  to  separate  the  husk  from  the  corn- 
meal.  I  strongly  urged  the  preparation  of  large  quantities  of  soup  made  from 
the  cow  and  calves  heads  with  the  brains  and  tongues,  to  which  a  liberal  supply  of 
sweet  potatoes  and  vegetables  might  have  been  advantageously  added.  The 
materials  existed  in  abundance  for  the  preparation  of  such  soup  in  large  quantities 
with  but  little  additional  expense.  Such  aliment  would  have  been  not  only  highly 
nutritious,  but  it  would  also  have  acted  as  an  efficient  remedial  agent  for  the  removal 
of  the  scorbutic  condition.  The  sick  within  the  stockade  lay  under  several  long 
sheds  which  were  originally  built  for  barracks.  These  sheds  covered  two  floors, 
which  were  open  on  all  sides.  The  sick  lay  upon  the  bare  boards,  or  upon  such 
ragged  blankets  as  they  possessed,  without,  as  far  as  I  observed,  any  bedding  or 
even  straw.  Pits  for  the  reception  of  feces  were  dug  within  a  few  feet  of  the 
lower  floor,  and  they  were  almost  never  unoccupied  by  those  suffering  with 
diarrhoea.  The  haggard,  distressed  countenances  of  these  miserable,  complaining, 
dejected,  living  skeletons,  crying  for  medical  aid  and  food,  and  cursing  their 
government  for  its  refusal  to  exchange  prisoners,  and  the  ghastly  corpses,  with  their 
glazed  eyeballs  staring  up  into  vacant  space,  with  the  flies  swarming  down  their 


90  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

open  and  grinning  mouths,  and  over  their  ragged  clothes,  infested  with  numerous 
lice,  as  they  lay  amongst  the  sick  and  dying,  formed  a  picture  of  helpless,  hopeless 
misery  which  it  would  be  impossible  to  portray  by  words  or  by  the  brush. 

CONDITIONS  AT  THE  HOSPITAL. 

Some  hundred  or  more  of  the  prisoners  had  been  released  from  confinement  in 
the  stockade  on  parole,  and  filled  various  offices  as  clerks,  druggists,  and  carpenters, 
etc.,  in  the  various  departments.  These  men  were  well  clothed,  and  presented  a 
stout  and  healthy  appearance,  and  as  a  general  rule  they  presented  a  much  more 
robust  and  healthy  appearance  than  the  Confederate  troops  guarding  the  prisoners. 

The  entire  grounds  are  surrounded  by  a  frail  board  fence,  and  are  strictly 
guarded  by  Confederate  soldiers,  and  no  prisoner  except  the  paroled  attendants  is 
allowed  to  leave  the  grounds  except  by  a  special  permit  from  the  commandant  of 
the  interior  of  the  prison. 

The  patients  and  attendants,  near  two  thousand  in  number,  are  crowded  into 
this  confined  space  and  are  but  poorly  supplied  with  old  and  ragged  tents.  Large 
numbers  of  them  are  without  any  bunks  in  the  tents,  and  lie  upon  the  ground, 
ofttimes  without  even  a  blanket.  No  beds  or  straw  appeared  to  have  been 
furnished.  The  tents  extend  to  within  a  few  yards  of  the  small  stream,  the 
eastern  portion  of  which,  as  we  have  before  said,  is  used  as  a  privy  and  is  loaded 
with  excrements;  and  I  observed  a  large  pile  of  corn  bread,  bones,  and  filth  of  all 
kinds,  thirty  feet  in  diameter  and  several  feet  in  height,  swarming  with  myriads 
of  flies,  in  a  vacant  space  near  the  pots  used  for  cooking.  Millions  of  flies  swarmed 
over  everything  and  covered  the  faces  of  the  sleeping  patients,  and  crawled  down 
their  open  mouths,  and  deposited  their  maggots  in  the  gangrenous  wounds  of  the 
living,  and  in  the  mouths  of  the  dead.  Mosquitoes  in  great  numbers  also  infested 
the  tents,  and  many  of  the  patients  were  so  stung  by  these  pestiferous  insects,  that 
they  resembled  those  suffering  with  a  slight  attack  of  measles. 

The  police  and  hygiene  of  the  hospital  was  defective  in  the  extreme;  the 
attendants,  who  appeared  in  almost  every  instance  to  have  been  selected  from  the 
prisoners,  seemed  to  have  in  many  cases  but  little  interest  in  the  welfare  of  their 
fellow-captives.  The  accusation  was  made  that  the  nurses  in  many  cases  robbed 
the  sick  of  their  clothing,  money,  and  rations,  and  carried  on  a  clandestine  trade 
with  the  paroled  prisoners  and  Confederate  guards  without  the  hospital  enclosure, 
in  the  clothing  and  effects  of  the  sick,  dying,  and  dead  Federals.  They  certainly 
appeared  to  neglect  the  comfort  and  cleanliness  of  the  sick  entrusted  to  their  care 
in  a  most  shameful  manner,  even  after  making  due  allowances  for  the  difficulties  of 
the  situation.  Many  of  the  sick  were  literally  encrusted  with  dirt  and  filth  and  covered 
with  vermin.  When  a  gangrenous  wound  needed  washing,  the  limb  was  thrust  out 
a  little  from  the  blanket,  or  board,  or  rags  upon  which  the  patient  was  lying,  and 
water  poured  over  it,  and  all  the  putrescent  matter  allowed  to  soak  into  the  ground 
floor  of  the  tent.  The  supply  of  rags  for  dressing  wounds  was  said  to  be  very 
scant,  and  I  saw  the  most  filthy  rags  which  had  been  applied  several  times,  and 
imperfectly  washed,  used  in  dressing  recent  wounds.  Where  hospital  gangrene 
was  prevailing,  it  was  impossible  for  any  wound  to  escape  contagion  under  these 
circumstances.  The  results  of  the  treatment  of  wounds  in  the  hospital  were  of  the 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  91 

most  unsatisfactory  character,  from  this  neglect  of  cleanliness,  in  the  dressings  and 
wounds  themselves,  as  well  as  from  various  other  causes  which  will  be  more  fully 
considered.  I  saw  several  gangrenous  wounds  filled  with  maggots.  I  have  fre 
quently  seen  neglected  wounds  amongst  the  Confederate  soldiers  similarly  affected; 
and  as  far  as  my  experience  extends,  these  worms  destroy  only  the  dead  tissues 
and  do  not  injure  specially  the  well  parts.  I  have  even  heard  surgeons  affirm  that  a 
gangrenous  wound  which  had  been  thoroughly  cleansed  by  maggots,  healed  more 
rapidly  than  if  it  had  been  left  to  itself.  This  want  of  cleanliness  on  the  part  of 
the  nurses  appeared  to  be  the  result  of  carelessness  and  inattention,  rather  than  of 
malignant  design,  and  the  whole  trouble  can  be  traced  to  the  want  of  proper  police 
and  sanitary  regulations,  and  to  the  absence  of  intelligent  organization  and  division 
of  labor.  The  abuses  were  in  a  large  measure  due  to  the  almost  total  absence  of 
system,  government,  and  rigid  but  wholesome  sanitary  regulations.  In  extenuation 
of  these  abuses  it  was  alleged  by  the  medical  officers  that  the  Confederate  troops 
were  barely  sufficient  to  guard  the  prisoners,  and  that  it  was  impossible  to  obtain 
any  number  of  experienced  nurses  from  the  Confederate  forces.  In  fact  the  guard 
appeared  to  be  too  small,  even  for  the  regulation  of  the  internal  hygiene  and  police 
of  the  hospital. 

The  manner  of  disposing  of  the  dead  was  also  calculated  to  depress  the  already 
desponding  spirits  of  these  men,  many  of  whom  have  been  confined  for  months, 
and  even  for  nearly  two  years,  in  Richmond  and  other  places,  and  whose  strength  has 
been  wasted  by  bad  air,  bad  food,  and  neglect  of  personal  cleanliness.  The  dead- 
house  is  merely  a  frame  covered  with  old  tent-cloth  and  a  few  bushes,  situated  in 
-the  southwestern  corner  of  the  hospital  grounds.  When  a  patient  dies,  he  is  simply 
laid  in  the  narrow  street  in  front  of  his  tent,  until  he  is  removed  by  Federal 
negroes  detailed  to  carry  off  the  dead;  if  a  patient  dies  during  the  night,  he  lies 
there  until  the  morning,  and  during  the  day  even  the  dead  were  frequently  allowed 
to  remain  for  Hours  in  these  walks.  In  the  dead-house  the  corpses  lie  upon  the  bare 
ground,  and  were  in  most  cases  covered  with  filth  and  vermin. 

At  short  intervals  in  the  lanes  between  the  tents,  wooden  boxes  are  arranged  for 
the  reception  of  the  excrements  of  those  patients  who  are  unable  to  walk  to  the 
sinks  along  the  banks  of  the  stream;  as  a  general  rule  these  are  not  emptied  until 
they  are  filled  with  excrements.  At  all  times  the  emaciated  men,  worn  down  to 
skeletons  by  diarrhoea  and  dysentery,  are  seen  evacuating  their  bowels  into  these 
filthy  receptacles,  which  from  their  wooden  structure  can  never  be  kept  properly 
cleansed.  Notwithstanding  the  objectionable  arrangements,  these  surgeons,  from 
the  limited  resources  of  the  purveying  department  of  the  Confederate  States,  appear 
to  be  unable  to  devise  any  better  mode  of  collecting  and  removing  the  excrements 
of  the  sick.  Metallic  or  earthenware  vessels  would  be  far  preferable,  but  it  is  said 
that  they  cannot  be  obtained  at  the  present  time. 

Time  and  again  I  saw  patients,  who  apparently  had  ample  strength  to  walk 
to  the  sinks,  evacuate  their  bladders  within  the  tent  doors.  The  whole  soil 
appeared  to  be  saturated  with  urine  and  filth  of  all  kinds  and  emitted  a  most  dis 
gusting  odor. 

The  cooking  arrangements  are  of  the  most  defective  character.  Five  large  iron 
pots  similar  to  those  used  for  boiling  sugar-cane,  appeared  to  be  the  only  cooking 
utensils  furnished  by  the  hospital  for  the  cooking  of  near  two  thousand  men;  and 


92  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

the  patients  were  dependent  in  great  measure  upon  their  own  miserable  utensils. 
They  were  allowed  to  cook  in  the  tent  doors  and  in  the  lanes,  and  this  was  another 
source  of  filth,  and  another  favorable  condition  for  the  generation  and  multiplica 
tion  of  flies  and  other  vermin. 

The  air  of  the  tents  was  foul  and  disagreeable  in  the  extreme,  and  in  fact  the 
entire  grounds  emitted  a  most  nauseous  and  disgusting  smell.  I  entered  nearly 
all  the  tents  and  carefully  examined  the  cases  of  interest,  and  especially  the  cases 
of  gangrene,  upon  numerous  occasions,  during  the  prosecution  of  my  pathological 
inquiries  at  Andersonville,  and  therefore  enjoyed  every  opportunity  to  judge 
correctly  of  the  hygiene  and  police  of  the  hospital. 

There  appeared  to  be  almost  absolute  indifference  and  neglect  on  the  part  of 
the  patients  of  personal  cleanliness;  their  persons  and  clothing  in  most  instances, 
and  especially  of  those  suffering  with  gangrene  and  scorbutic  ulcers,  were  filthy 
in  the  extreme  and  covered  with  vermin.  It  was  too  often  the  case  that  patients 
were  received  from  the  stockade  in  a  most  deplorable  condition.  I  have  seen  men 
brought  in  from  the  stockade  in  a  dying  condition,  begrimed  from  head  to  foot 
with  their  own  excrements,  and  so  black  from  smoke  and  filth  that  they  resembled 
negroes  rather  than  white  men.  That  this  description  of  the  stockade  and  hospital 
has  not  been  overdrawn,  will  appear  from  the  reports  of  the  surgeons  in  charge, 
appended  to  this  report. 

I  have  drawn  up  for  the  consideration  of  the  surgeon-general  and  the  use  of 
the  medical  department  of  the  Confederate  States  the  following  tables,  giving  a 
consolidated  view  of  the  diseases  of  the  Federal  prisoners  confined  at  Anderson- 
rille  and  also  of  the  Confederate  forces  acting  as  a  guard  around  the  stockade  and 
hospital. 

[These  tables  are  more  especially  of  interest  to  medical  men  and  are  omitted.] 

The  following  table  covers  the  period  from  March,  1864,  to  August, 
inclusive : 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES. 


93 


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94  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

We  will  examine  first  the  consolidated  report  of  the  sick  and  wounded  Federal 
prisoners.  During  six  months,  from  the  1st  of  March  to  the  31st  of  August, 
42,686  cases  of  diseases  and  wounds  were  reported.  No  classified  record  of  the 
sick  in  the  stockade  was  kept  after  the  establishment  of  the  hospital  without  the 
prison.  This  fact,  in  conjunction  with  those  already  presented  relating  to  the 
insufficiency  of  medical  officers  and  the  extreme  illness  and  even  death  of  many 
prisoners  in  the  tents  in  the  stockade,  without  any  medical  attention  or  record 
beyond  the  bare  number  of  the  dead,  demonstrates  that  these  figures,  large  as  they 
appear  to  be,  are  far  below  the  truth. 

During  this  period  of  six  months  no  less  than  565  deaths  are  recorded  under 
the  head  of  mor'bi  vanie.  In  other  words,  those  men  died  without  having  received 
sufficient  medical  attention  for  the  determination  of  even  the  name  of  the  disease 
causing  death. 

During  the  month  of  August,  53  cases  and  53  deaths  are  recorded  as  due  to 
marasmus.  Surely  this  large  number  of  deaths  must  have  been  due  to  some  other 
morbid  state  than  slow  wasting.  If  they  were  due  to  improper  and  insufficient 
food,  they  should  have  been  classed  accordingly,  and  if  to  diarrhoea  or  dysentery 
or  scurvy,  the  classification  should  in  like  manner  have  been  explicit. 

We  observe  a  progressive  increase  of  the  rate  of  mortality,  from  3.11  per  cent 
in  March  to  9.09  per  cent  of  mean  strength,  sick  and  well,  in  August.  The  ratio 
of  mortality  continued  to  increase  during  September,  for  notwithstanding  the 
removal  of  one-half  of  the  entire  number  of  prisoners  during  the  early  portion  of 
the  month,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty-seven  (1,767)  deaths  are 
registered  from  September  1st  to  21st,  and  the  largest  number  of  deaths  upon  any 
one  day  occurred  during  this  month,  on  the  16th,  viz:  119. 

The  entire  number  of  Federal  prisoners  confined  at  Andersonville  was  about 
40,611;  and  during  the  period  of  near  seven  months,  from  February  24th  to 
September  21st,  nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-nine  (9,479)  deaths  were 
recorded;  that  is,  during  this  period  near  one-fourth,  or,  more  exactly,  one  in  4.2, 
or  23.3  per  cent,  terminated  fatally.  This  increase  of  mortality  was  due  in  great 
measure  to  the  accumulation  of  the  sources  of  disease,  as  the  increase  of  excre 
ments  and  filth  of  all  kinds,  and  the  concentration  of  noxious  effluvia,  and  also  to 
the  progressive  effects  of  salt  diet,  crowding,  and  the  hot  climate. 

CONCLUSIONS. 

1st.  The  great  mortality  among  the  Federal  prisoners  confined  in  the  military 
prison  at  Andersonville  was  not  referable  to  climatic  causes,  or  to  the  nature  of 
the  soil  and  waters. 

2nd.  The  chief  causes  of  death  were  scurvy  and  its  results,  and  bowel  affections — 
chronic  and  acute  diarrhoea  and  dysentery.  The  bowel  affections  appear  to  have 
been  due  to  the  diet,  the  habits  of  the  patients,  the  depressed,  dejected  state  of  the 
nervous  system  and  moral  and  intellectual  powers,  and  to  the  effluvia  arising  from 
the  decomposing  animal  and  vegetable  filth.  The  effects  of  salt  meat,  and  an 
unvarying  diet  of  corn-meal,  with  but  few  vegetables,  and  imperfect  supplies  of 
vinegar  and  syrup,  were  manifested  in  the  great  prevalence  of  scurvy.  This 
disease,  without  doubt,  was  also  influenced  to  an  important  extent  in  its  origin 
and  course  by  the  foul  animal  emanations. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  95 

3rd.  From  the  sameness  of  the  food  and  form,  the  action  of  the  poisonous  gases 
in  the  densely  crowded  and  filthy  stockade  and  hospital,  the  blood  was  altered 
in  its  constitution,  even  before  the  manifestation  of  actual  disease.  In  both  the 
well  and  the  sick  the  red  corpuscles  were  diminished;  and  in  all  diseases  uncom 
plicated  with  inflammation,  the  fibrous  element  was  deficient.  In  cases  of  ulcera- 
tion  of  the  mucous  membrane  of  the  intestinal  canal,  the  fibrous  element  of  the 
blood  was  increased;  while  in  simple  diarrhoea,  uncomplicated  with  ulceration,  it 
was  either  diminished  or  else  remained  stationary.  Heart  clots  were  very  common 
if  not  universally  present  in  the  cases  of  ulceration  of  the  intestinal  mucous  mem 
brane,  while  in  the  uncomplicated  cases  of  diarrhea  and  scurvy,  the  blood  was 
fluid  and  did  not  coagulate  readily,  and  the  heart  clots  and  fibrous  concretions 
were  almost  universally  absent.  From  the  watery  condition  of  the  blood,  there 
resulted  various  serous  effusions  into  the  pericardium,  ventricles  of  the  brain,  and 
into  the  abdomen.  In  almost  all  the  cases  which  I  examined  after  death,  even 
the  most  emaciated,  there  was  more  or  less  serous  effusion  into  the  abdominal 
cavity.  In  cases  of  hospital  gangrene  of  the  extremities,  and  in  cases  of  gangrene 
of  the  intestines,  heart  clots  and  fibrous  coagula  were  universally  present.  The 
presence  of  those  clots  in  the  cases  of  hospital  gangrene,  while  they  were  absent 
in  the  cases  in  which  there  were  no  inflammatory  symptoms,  sustains  the  conclusion 
that  hospital  gangrene  is  a  species  of  inflammation,  imperfect  and  irregular  though 
it  may  be  in  its  progress,  in  which  the  fibrous  element  and  coagulation .  of  the 
blood  are  increased,  even  in  those  who  are  suffering  from  such  condition  of  the 
blood,  and  from  such  diseases  as  are  naturally  accompanied  with  a  decrease  in 
the  fibrous  constituent. 

4th.  The  fact  that  hospital  gangrene  appeared  in  the  stockade  first  and  origi 
nated  spontaneously  without  any  previous  contagion,  and  occurred  sporadically 
all  over  the  stockade  and  prison  hospital,  was  proof  positive  that  this  disease  will 
arise  whenever  the  conditions  of  crowding,  filth,  foul  air,  and  bad  diet  are  present. 
The  exhalations  from  the  hospital  and  stockade  appeared  to  exert  their  effects  to  a 
considerable  distance  outside  of  these  localities.  The  origin  of  hospital  gangrene 
among  these  prisoners  appeared  clearly  to  depend  in  great  measure  upon  the  state 
of  the  general  system  induced  by  diet,  and  various  external  noxious  influences. 
The  rapidity  of  the  appearance  and  action  of  the  gangrene  depended  upon  the 
powers  and  state  of  the  constitution,  as  well  as  upon  the  intensity  of  the  poison 
in  the  atmosphere,  or  upon  the  direct  application  of  poisonous  matter  to  the 
wounded  surface.  This  was  further  illustrated  by  the  important  fact  that  hospital 
gangrene,  or  a  disease  resembling  it  in  all  essential  respects,  attacked  the  intestinal 
canal  of  patients  laboring  under  ulceration  of  the  bowels,  although  there  were  no 
local  manifestations  of  gangrene  upon  the  surface  of  the  body.  This  mode  of 
termination  in  cases  of  dysentery  was  quite  common  in  the  foul  atmosphere  of  the 
Confederate  States  military  hospital,  in  the  depressed,  depraved  condition  of  the 
system  of  these  Federal  prisoners. 

5th.  A  scorbutic  condition  of  the  system  appeared  to  favor  the  origin  of  foul 
ulcers,  which  frequently  took  on  true  hospital  gangrene.  Scurvy  and  hospital 
gangrene  frequently  existed  in  the  same  individual.  In  such  cases,  vegetable  diet, 
with  vegetable  acids,  would  remove  the  scorbutic  condition  without  curing  the 
hospital  gangrene.  From  the  results  of  the  existing  war  for  the  establishment  of 


96  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

the  independence  of  the  Confederate  States,  as  well  as  from  the  published  observa 
tions  of  Dr.  Trotter,  Sir  Gilbert  Blane,  and  others  of  the  English  navy  and  army, 
it  is  evident  that  the  scorbutic  condition  of  the  system,  especially  in  crowded 
ships  and  camps,  is  most  favorable  to  the  origin  and  spread  of  foul  ulcers  and 
hospital  gangrene.  As  in  the  present  case  of  Andersonville,  so  also  in  past  times 
when  medical  hygiene  was  almost  entirely  neglected,  those  two  diseases  were  almost 
universally  associated  in  crowded  ships.  In  many  cases  it  was  very  difficult  to 
decide  at  first  whether  the  ulcer  was  a  simple  result  of  scurvy  or  of  the  action  of 
the  prison  or  hospital  gangrene,  for  there  was  great  similarity  in  the  appearance 
of  the  ulcers  in  the  two  diseases.  So  commonly  have  those  two  diseases  been 
combined  in  their  origin  and  action,  that  the  description  of  scorbutic  ulcers,  by 
many  authors,  evidently  includes  also  many  of  the  prominent  characteristics  of 
hospital  gangrene.  This  will  be  rendered  evident  by  an  examination  of  the 
observations  of  Dr.  Lind  and  Sir  Gilbert  Blane  upon  scorbutic  ulcers. 

6th.  Gangrenous  spots  followed  by  rapid  destruction  of  tissue  appeared  in  some 
cases  where  there  had  been  no  known  wound.  Without  such  well-established  facts, 
it  might  be  assumed  that  the  disease  was  propagated  from  one  patient  to  another. 
In  such  a  filthy  and  crowded  hospital  as  that  of  the  Confederate  States  military 
prison  at  Andersonville,  it  was  impossible  to  isolate  the  wounded  from  the  sources 
of  actual  contact  of  the  gangrenous  matter.  The  flies  swarming  over  the  wounds 
and  over  the  filth  of  every  kind,  the  filthy,  imperfectly  washed  and  scanty  supplies 
of  rags,  and  the  limited  supply  of  washing  utensils,  the  same  wash-bowl  serving 
for  scores  of  patients,  were  sources  of  such  constant  circulation  of  the  gangrenous 
matter  that  the  disease  might  rapidly  spread  from  a  single  gangrenous  wound. 
The  fact  already  stated,  that  a  form  of  moist  gangrene,  resembling  hospital 
gangrene,  was  quite  common  in  this  foul  atmosphere,  in  cases  of  dysentery,  both 
with  and  without  the  existence  of  the  disease  upon  the  entire  surface,  not  only 
demonstrates  the  dependence  of  the  disease  upon  the  state  of  the  constitution,  but 
proves  in  the  clearest  manner  that  neither  the  contact  of  the  poisonous  matter  of 
gangrene,  nor  the  direct  action  of  the  poisonous  atmosphere  upon  the  ulcerated 
surface,  is  necessary  to  the  development  of  the  disease. 

7th.  In  this  foul  atmosphere  amputation  did  not  arrest  hospital  gangrene;  the 
disease  almost  invariably  returned.  Almost  every  amputation  was  followed  finally 
by  death,  either  from  the  effects  of  gangrene  or  from  the  prevailing  diarrhoea  and 
dysentery.  Nitric  acid  and  escharotics,  generally,  in  this  crowded  atmosphere, 
loaded  with  noxious  effluvia,  exerted  only  temporary  effects;  after  their  applica 
tion  to  the  diseased  surfaces,  the  gangrene  would  frequently  return  with  redoubled 
energy;  and  even  after  the  gangrene  had  been  completely  removed  by  local 
and  constitutional  treatment,  it  would  frequently  return  and  destroy  the  patient. 
As  far  as  my  observation  extended,  very  few  of  the  cases  of  amputation  for 
gangrene  recovered.  The  progress  of  these  cases  was  frequently  very  deceptive. 
I  have  observed  after  death  the  most  extensive  disorganization  of  the  structures 
of  the  stump,  when  during  life  there  was  but  little  swelling  of  the  part,  and  the 
patient  was  apparently  doing  well.  I  endeavored  to  impress  upon  the  medical 
officers  the  view  that  in  this  disease  treatment  was  almost  useless,  without  an 
abundant  supply  of  pure  fresh  air,  nutritious  food,  and  tonics  and  stimulants. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  97 

Such  changes,  however,  as  would  allow  of  the  isolation  of  the  cases  of  hospital 
gangrene  appeared  to  be  out  of  the  power  of  the  medical  officers. 

8th.  The  gangrenous  mass  was  without  true  pus,  and  consisted  chiefly  of 
broken-down,  disorganized  structures.  The  reaction  of  the  gangrenous  matter  in 
certain  stages  was  alkaline. 

9th.  The  best,  and  in  truth  the  only,  means  of  protecting  the  large  armies  and 
navies,  as  well  as  prisoners,  from  the  ravages  of  hospital  gangrene,  is  to  furnish 
liberal  supplies  of  well-cured  meat,  together  with  fresh  beef  and  vegetables,  and 
to  enforce  a  rigid  system  of  hygiene. 

10th.  Finally,  this  gigantic  mass  of  human  misery  calls  loudly  for  relief,  not 
only  for  the  sake  of  suffering  humanity,  but  also  on  account  of  our  own  brave 
soldiers  now  captives  in  the  hands  of  the  Federal  government.  Strict  justice  to  the 
gallant  men  of  the  Confederate  armies,  who  have  been  or  who  may  be  so  un 
fortunate  as  to  be  compelled  to  surrender  in  battle,  demands  that  the  Confederate 
government  should  adopt  that  course  which  will  best  secure  their  health  and 
comfort  in  captivity;  or  at  least  leave  their  enemies  without  a  shadow  of  an  excuse 
for  any  violation  of  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners. 

Q.  You  have  made  some  estimates  based  upon  what  you  term  the  "mean 
strength";  will  you  explain  to  the  court  what  you  mean  by  that? 

A.  The  mean  strength  for  a  month  in  an  army  is  generally  taken  by  choosing 
three  points  in  the  month,  the  first,  the  middle,  and  the  latter  part  of  it,  adding 
them  together  and  dividing  the  total  number. 

Q.     The  total  of  the  three  added? 

A.  Yes,  sir.  I  do  not  know  exactly  how  it  was  done  at  Andersonville.  This 
was  taken  from  the  records  there  entitled  "mean  strength." 

Q.  Continue  your  explanation  of  how  the  estimate  was  made,  and  then  you 
can  make  any  qualifications  with  regard  to  it.  You  say  you  divided  the  number 
of  prisoners  at  the  first  of  the  month,  the  middle  of  the  month,  and  the  last  of 
the  month  by  three;  then  what  did  you  do? 

A.  That  would  give  you  the  mean  strength,  the  average  number  present  during 
the  month — that  is  in  armies. 

Q.     That  cannot  always  be  accurate,  can  it? 

A.  No,  sir;  it  is  not  accurate  in  armies.  I  do  not  know  exactly  what  course 
they  adopted  with  the  prisoners,  but  presume  it  was  done  in  the  same  way.  Two 
or  three  thousand  might  have  been  received  and  two  or  three  thousand  sent  away, 
and  in  that  way  the  whole  number  during  the  month  would  be  pretty  much  un 
changed.  In  the  Confederate  service  it  was  not  a  truly  accurate  number. 

Q.  You  used  the  term  "Confederate  States  military  hospital";  does  that  refer 
always  to  the  Federal  prisoners'  hospital? 

A.  There  was  a  Confederate  States  military  hospital  there,  that  went  by  the 
name  of  Sumter  hospital. 

Q.     In  the  returns  you  include  only  hospitals  containing  Federal  prisoners? 

A.  Yes;  I  think  I  always  used  the  term  "Confederate  States  military  prison 
hospitals." 

Q.     When  did  you  forward  your  report  or  complete  it? 


98  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

A.  I  will  state  to  the  court  that  I  was  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  that 
report  in  the  month  of  September,  1864.  I  went  from  Andersonville  to  the 
hospitals  connected  with  the  Army  of  Tennessee,  and  labored  there  until  Novem 
ber;  I  then  returned  to  Augusta,  just  about  the  time  that  General  Sherman  com 
menced  his  march  from  Atlanta.  I  was  then  cut  off  from  the  reception  of  answers 
to  numerous  inquiries  I  had  made  of  officers  at  Andersonville  and  with  the  Army 
of  Tennessee,  and  set  about  preparing  the  report  for  the  surgeon-general.  I  had 
just  completed  the  report  which  I  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  judge  advocate 
under  orders  from  the  government  when  the  Confederacy  went  to  pieces.  That 
report  never  was  delivered  to  the  surgeon-general,  and  I  was  unaware  that  any 
one  knew  of  its  existence  at  all  until  I  received  orders  from  the  United  States 
government  to  bring  it  and  deliver  it  to  this  court  in  testimony.  I  make  this  state 
ment  to  relieve  myself  of  the  charge  of  turning  state's  evidence,  as  it  were,  against 
those  with  whom  I  was  formerly  associated;  it  was  done  in  obedience  to  an  order 
from  the  government. 

Q.     Have  your  sympathies  been  with  the  Eebellion  during  the  war? 

A.     Entirely  so. 

Q.  Then  your  report  was  made  out  in  the  interest  of  the  Confederate  govern 
ment. 

A.  In  the  interest  of  the  Confederate  government;  for  the  use  of  the  medical 
department;  in  the  view  that  no  eye  would  ever  see  it  but  that  of  the  surgeon- 
general.  I  beg  leave  to  make  a  statement  to  the  court.  That  portion  of  my 
report  which  has  been  read  is  only  a  small  part  of  the  report.  The  original  report 
contains  the  excuses  which  were  given  by  the  officers  present  at  Andersonville, 
which  I  thought  it  right  to  embody  with  my  labors;  it  also  contains  documents 
forwarded  to  Eichmond  by  Dr.  White  and  Dr.  Stevenson  and  others  in  charge  of 
the  hospitals.  Those  documents  contained  important  facts  as  to  the  labors  of  the 
medical  department  and  their  efforts  to  better  the  condition  of  things. 

Q.     Are  your  conclusions  correctly  stated  in  this  extract? 

A.  Part  of  my  conclusions  are  stated;  not  the  whole.  A  portion  of  my  con 
clusions  and  also  my  recommendations  are  not  stated. 

Q.     Touching  the  subject  of  exchange? 

A.     Yes,  sir;  the  general  difficulties  environing  the  prisoners  and  their  officers. 

Q.  But  the  condition  of  things  at  Andersonville  you  have  correctly  described 
in  the  report  of  which  this  is  an  extract? 

A.  I  endeavored  to  do  so  in  that  report  so  far  as  my  means  of  investigation 
would  allow.  I  would  also  state  that  the  results  of  my  examination  of  gangrene, 
scurvy,  and  other  diseases  have  been  omitted  from  the  report.  They  were  very 
extended.  I  was  there  for  three  weeks  and  made  some  score  of  post-mortem- 
examinations.  I  endeavored,  in  this  report  to  the  surgeon-general,  to  condense  the 
results  of  all  those  labors;  in  fact  that  was  the  end  and  aim  of  the  investigation. 

The  following  preliminary  report  made  by  Dr.  Jones,  found  in  the 
records  of  the  War  of  the  Eebellion,  is  important  as  showing  that  he 
had  added  his  testimony  to  that  of  Colonel  Chandler  as  to  existing 
conditions  at  Andersonville.  This  report  follows: 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  99 

MACON,  GA.,  October  19,  1864.1 

Surgeon-General  S.  P.  MOORE,  Confederate  States  Army, 
War  Department,  Richmond,  Va. 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  give  the  following  brief  outline  of  my  labors,  con 
ducted  in  accordance  with  the  orders  of  the  surgeon-general: 

Immediately  after  the  brief  report  upon  hospital  gangrene,  forwarded  to  the 
surgeon-general,  I  repaired  to  Camp  Sumter,  Andersonville,  Ga.,  and  instituted  a 
series  of  investigations  upon  the  diseases  of  the  Federal  prisoners. 

The  field  was  of  great  extent  and  extraordinary  interest.  There  were  more  than 
5,000  seriously  sick  in  the  hospital  and  stockade,  and  the  deaths  ranged  from  90 
to  130  each  day. 

Since  the  establishment  of  this  prison  on  24th  of  February,  1864,  to  the  present 
time,  over  10,000  Federal  prisoners  have  died;  that  is — near  one-third  of  the  entire 
number  have  perished  in  less  than  seven  months. 

I  instituted  careful  investigations  into  the  condition  of  the  sick  and  well  and 
performed  numerous  post-mortem  examinations.  The  medical  topography  of  Ander 
sonville  and  the  surrounding  country  was  examined,  and  the  waters  of  the  streams, 
springs,  and  wells  around  and  within  the  stockade  and  hospital  carefully  analyzed. 

Diarrhoea,  dysentery,  scurvy,  and  hospital  gangrene  were  the  diseases  which  have 
been  the  main  cause  of  this  extraordinary  mortality.  The  origin  and  character  of 
the  hospital  gangrene  which  prevailed  to  so  remarkable  a  degree  and  with  such 
fatal  effects  amongst  the  Federal  prisoners,  engaged  my  most  serious  and  earnest 
consideration.  More  than  30,000  men,  crowded  upon  twenty-seven  acres  of  land, 
with  little  or  no  shelter  from  the  intense  heat  of  a  Southern  summer,  or  from  the 
rain  and  from  the  dew  of  night,  with  coarse  corn  bread  from  which  the  husk  had 
not  been  removed,  with  but  scant  supplies  of  fresh  meat  and  vegetables,  with  little 
or  no  attention  to  hygiene,  with  festering  masses  of  filth  at  the  very  doors  of  their 
rude  dens  and  tents,  with  the  greater  portion  of  the  banks  of  the  stream  flowing 
through  the  stockade  a  filthy  quagmire  of  human  excrements  alive  with  working 
maggots,  generated  by  their  own  filthy  exhalations  and  excretions,  an  atmosphere 
that  so  deteriorated  and  contaminated  their  solids  and  fluids  that  the  slightest 
scratch  and  even  the  bites  of  small  insects  were  in  some  eases  followed  by  such 
rapid  and  extensive  gangrene  as  to  destroy  extremities  and  even  life  itself. 

A  large  number  of  operations  have  been  performed  in  the  hospital  on  account  of 
gangrene  following  slight  injuries  and  mere  abrasion  of  the  surface.  In  almost 
every  case  of  amputation  for  gangrene  the  disease  returned,  and  a  large  proportion 
of  the  cases  have  terminated  fatally. 

I  recorded  careful  observations  upon  the  origin  and  progress  of  these  cases  of 
gangrene,  and  examined  the  bodies  after  death  and  noted  the  pathological  changes 
of  the  organs  and  tissues.  The  results  of  these  observations  will  be  forwarded  to 
the  surgeon-general  at  the  earliest  practicable  moment. 

After  concluding  my  labors  among  the  Federal  prisoners,  I  moved  to  Macon  and 
instituted  a  series  of  inquiries  and  investigations  upon  the  hospital  gangrene  which 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  VII,  series  2,  p.   1012. 


100  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

has  prevailed  to  so  great  an  extent  in  the  Army  of  the  Tennessee  during  the  recent 
disastrous  campaign,  and  especially  since  the  evacuation  of  Atlanta. 

These  active  labors  in  the  field  will  engage  my  attention  for  one  or  two  months 
longer,  and  immediately  after  the  close  of  the  investigation  (if  Providence  permit) 
I  will  prepare  my  full  report  upon  hospital  gangrene,  which  will  embody  the  results 
of  my  investigations  upon  this  disease  in  various  parts  of  the  Confederacy,  in  the 
general  hospitals  in  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  and  will  embrace  also 
the  more  recent  investigation^  at  Andersonville,  Macon,  and  Columbus,  Ga.  I  will 
spare  no  effort  and  no  expenditure  of  time  and  labor  in  the  preparation  of  this 
report,  with  the  hope  that  it  may  prove  of  value  to  the  medical  department  of  the 
Confederate  Army  and  worthy  of  the  consideration  of  the  surgeon-general. 

If  favored,  I  hope  to  be  able  to  place  this  report  in  the  hands  of  the  surgeon- 
general  about  the  1st  of  next  May  or  June. 

JOSEPH  JONES, 
Surgeon,  Provisional  Army,  C.  S. 

Surgeon  Jones  was  mentioned  by  Jefferson  Davis,  in  his  Belford 
articles,  as  a  man  of  "great  learning  and  undoubted  probity."  He  was 
sent,  as  Dr.  Jones  and  Mr.  Davis  both  tell  us,  purely  in  the  interest  of 
science  and  not  to  devise  methods  of  better  treatment.  Mr.  Davis  says 
that  Dr.  Jones's  report  was  made  for  the  eye  of  the  surgeon-general 
alone,  and  he  intimates  that  it  was  perfidious  to  use  it  against  the 
rebel  government  for  that  reason. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  Dr.  Jones  was  on  the  witness  stand 
he  testified  that  the  report  had  been  finished  but  had  not  been  sent 
forward  when  the  war  closed.  Much  was  made  of  this  fact  as  reliev 
ing  the  rebel  authorities  at  Richmond  from  the  responsibility  which 
this  report  would,  if  received,  have  imposed. 

The  knowledge  of  the  Richmond  authorities  abundantly  appears 
through  other  means.  But  we  now  see  that  Dr.  Jones  by  this  prelim 
inary  report  gave  those  authorities  information  about  Andersonville 
Prison  shortly  after  his  investigation.  It  will  be  observed  here  as  in 
other  evidence  that  the  bodies  of  our  dead  were  frequently  used  "in 
the  interest  of  science."  How  many  were  thus  violated  and  their 
identity  destroyed  we  do  not  know.  Nor  can  we  wonder  that  where 
so  little  regard  was  given  for  human  life,  less  regard  was  shown  for 
the  bodies  of  the  dead. 

Dr.  Jones  points  out  that  the  prisoners  died  as  rapidly  in  the 
stockade  as  in  the  hospital.  He  gives  the  total  deaths  in  the  stockade, 
to  September  21st,  as  3,254,  and  in  the  hospital,  for  the  same  period, 
as  6,225;  a  total  of  9,479. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCKIBED  BY  CONFEDEEATES.  101 

He  further  says :  x 

During  the  period  of  six  months  no  less  than  565  deaths  are  recorded  under 
the  head  of  morbi  vanie.  In  other  words,  the  men  died  without  having  received 
sufficient  medical  attention  for  the  determination  of  even  the  names  of  the  disease 
causing  death. 

During  the  month  of  August,  53  cases  and  53  deaths  are  recorded  as  due  to 
marasmus.2  Surely  this  large  number  of  deaths  must  have  been  due  to  some 
other  morbid  state  than  slow  wasting.  If  they  were  due  to  improper  and  insuffi 
cient  food,  they  should  have  been  classed  accordingly. 

We  observe  a  progressive  increase  of  the  rate  of  mortality,  from  3.11  per  cent 
in  March,  to  9.09  per  cent  of  mean  strength,  sick  and  well,  in  August. 

Dr.  Jones  then  points  out  that  the  ratio  of  mortality  continued  to 
increase  during  September.  He  continued : 

The  entire  number  of  Federal  prisoners  at  Andersonville  was  about  40,611; 
and  during  the  period  of  near  seven  months,  from  February  24  to  September  21, 
nine  thousand  four  hundred  and  seventy-nine  (9,479)  deaths  were  recorded;  that 
is,  during  this  period  one-fourth,  or,  more  exactly,  one  in  4.2  or  23.3  per  cent, 
terminated  fatally. 

He  then  sums  up  the  causes,  which  he  had  already  elaborately 
pointed  out,  as  follows: 

This  increase  of  mortality  was  due  in  great  measure  to  the  accumulation  of 
the  sources  of  disease;  as  the  increase  of  excrements  and  filth  of  all  kinds,  and 
the  concentration  of  noxious  effluvia,  and  also  to  the  progressive  effects  of  salt 
diet,  crowding  and  hot  climate. 

A  glance  at  the  "sources  of  disease"  which  he  enumerates  will  show 
how  easily  most  of  them  could  have  been  avoided  by  remedial  agencies 
within  reach. 

Captain  Wirz  made  a  report  of  date  November  1,  1864,  which  was 
forwarded  through  proper  channels  to  Adjutant-General  Cooper  on 
November  8th.3 

This  report  shows  that  on  October  1st,  the  number  remaining  in 
prison  was  reduced  to  8,662.  Of  these,  at  that  date  2,071,  and  at  the 
end  of  the  month  2,479,  were  reported  in  hospital.  There  died  in 
hospital  during  the  month  1,560,  or  34.2  per  cent  of  all  the  sick. 
There  were  sent  away  2,866.  The  mean  strength  for  the  month  was 
about  6,100.  It  thus  appears  that  as  late  as  November  1st,  over  25  per 
cent  of  the  mean  strength  died  and  over  34  per  cent  of  those  reported 
in  hospital. 

1  Record,  p.  637. 

*  A  wasting  of  flesh  without  fever  or  apparent   disease. — Webster. 

8  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.   VII,   series  2,  p.    1082. 


102  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

Surgeon  "White  made  the  following  report  in  November,  1864: 

OFFICE  CHIEF  SURGEON,  CONFEDERATE  STATES  MILITARY  PRISONS, 
GEORGIA  AND  ALABAMA. 

CAMP  LAWTON,  GA.,  November  9,  1864. 
Surgeon  E.  E.  STEVENSON,  In  charge  Post,  Andersonville,  Ga.i 

Sir:  .  .  .  We  have  been  quite  busy  for  the  last  two  days  in  selecting  the 
sick  to  be  exchanged.  After  getting  them  all  ready  at  the  depot,  we  were  notified 
by  telegraph  not  to  send  them  and  had  to  take  them  back  to  the  stockade.  Many 
of  these  poor  fellows  already  broken  down  in  health,  will  succumb  through  despair. 

I.  H.  WHITE, 

Chief  Surgeon. 

CONFEDERATE  STATES  OF  AMERICAN 
SURGEON-GENERAL'S  OFFICE. 

RICHMOND,  VA., : — ,  186 — . 

Report  of  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  the  Confederate  States  Military  Prisons  at 
Camps  Sumter  and  Laivton,  Georgia,  ~by  Surgeon  Isaiah  H.  White. 

The  law  of  Congress  creating  a  hospital  fund  to  provide  for  the  comfort  of 
the  sick  and  wounded  is  completely  abrogated  by  the  commissary  department  fail 
ing  to  fill  requisitions  for  funds. 

The  authority  granted  in  your  telegram  of  September  22,  to  divide  the  excess 
of  funds  at  Andersonville  among  the  new  prisons,  has  been  thwarted  by  the  com 
missary  at  that  post  failing  to  supply  funds.  A  large  excess  of  funds  at 'Ander 
sonville  will  be  turned  over  to  the  treasury  because  the  commissary  at  that  post 
has  failed  to  supply  himself  with  funds  to  meet  requisitions  while  thousands  of 
sick,  both  at  this  post  and  Andersonville,  are  in  a  state  of  suffering  that  would 
touch  the  heart  of  even  the  most  callous.  Will  not  the  commissary-general  supply 
the  funds  even  after  the  monthly  statement  of  hospital  fund  has  been  forwarded? 

ISAIAH  H.  WHITE, 
Surgeon,  Provisional  Army,  C.  S. 

This  report  bears  an  indorsement  of  Surgeon-General  Moore,  No 
vember  15,  1864,  referring  it  to  the  commissary-general.  Surgeon 
White  had  pointed  out  that  thousands  of  the  sick  prisoners  were  "in  a 
state  of  suffering  that  would  touch  the  heart  of  even  the  most  callous." 

The  commissary-general  on  November  18th  made  an  indorsement 
complaining  that  his  bureau  had  not  been  supplied  with  money.  "When 
the  indebtedness  of  this  bureau  is  relieved,"  he  said,  "and  funds  fur 
nished  in  addition,  to  procure  supplies  for  the  armies  in  the  field, 
it  is  hoped  that  enough  will  be  found  to  meet  the  regular  demands  of 
the  hospital.  This  bureau  scarcely  expects  to  realize  such  a  healthful 
condition  of  the  country,  and  can  take  no  action  in  conflict  with  the 
law,  which  is  conclusive  on  the  subject." 

On  November  20th,  Surgeon-General  Moore  indorsed  the  document : 
"Respectfully  submitted  to  the  secretary  of  war  to  know  what  can  be 
done  under  the  circumstances." 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  VII,  series  z,  p.  1114. 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  VII,  series  2,  p.  1130. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCEIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  103 

As  was  the  case  with  most  of  the  reports  that  went  forward  to  the 
Kichmond  authorities,  suggesting  needed  relief  at  Andersonville,  this 
one  slumbered  in  pigeonholes  and  nothing  was  done. 

ANDERSONVILLE,  GA.,  September  16,  1864. 
Office  of  the  Surgeon  in  Charge  * 

C.  S.  Military  Prison  Hospital, 
Surgeon-General  S.  P.  MOORE,  C.  S.  Army,  Richmond,  Va.: 

Sir:  I  have  the  honor  to  report  to  you  that  I  have  been  assigned  to  duty  by 
Surgeon  I.  H.  White,  chief  surgeon  post,  in  charge  of  C.  S.  military  prison  hospi 
tal.  In  assuming  the  responsibilities  of  so  important  a  position  and  before  enter 
ing  upon  my  duties  I  deem  it  necessary  to  make  the  following  statement  of  the 
sanitary  condition  of  the  hospital  and  appliances  for  the  comfort  of  the  sick  and 
wounded.  The  topography,  climate,  and  prevalent  diseases  of  the  country  have 
been  given  you  in  former  reports  by  my  predecessor.  I  shall  confine  myself  prin 
cipally  to  the  following: 

1.  Nature  of  Barrack  Accommodations. — The  stockade  (in  the  shape  of  a  paral 
lelogram)  includes  twenty-seven  acres  of  ground.     A  considerable  stream  of  water 
passes  through  it,  running  east  and  west.     In  this  space  of  ground  from  30,000 
to  40,000  prisoners  have  been  crowded;  no  protection  whatever  from  the  burning 
rays  of  the  sun,  except  such  as  could  be  made  from  blankets  or  dirt  hovels.     Along 
the  banks  of  the  stream  the  ground  is  quite  boggy,  and  water  is  continually  oozing 
from  the  low  banks.     Recently  four  sheds  have  been  built  inside  the  stockade. 
These  were  the  beginning  of  a  series  of  barracks  capable  of  accomodating  270 
men  each.     A  temporary  structure  is  erected  on  the  banks  of  the  stream  and  is 
used  as  a  privy.     All  the  inmates  of  the  prison  use  this  humid  cesspool  of  excre- 
mentitious  matter  as  a  privy  except  the  sick,  and  they  are  compelled  to  dig  small 
holes  near  their  hovels  and  use  them  for  the  deposit  of-feces.     The  stream  that 
flows  through  the  stockade  overflowed  its  low  swampy  banks  in  the  early  part  of 
the  season,  and  the  amount  of  fecal  matter  deposited  a  short  distance  from  the 
outside  of  the  stockade  is  enormous.     At  all  times  of  the  day  and  night  a  most 
noisome  stench  arises  from  the  decomposing  excrementitious  matter  deposited  in 
the  prison  and  hospital  grounds.     From  3,000   to   4,000   sick  and  wounded  men 
are  inside  the  stockade.     The  number  of  medical  men  is  entirely  inadequate  for 
the  demands  of  the  sick.     At  present  writing  only  four  medical  officers  are  on 
duty,  whereas  to  take  the  proper  care  of  the  sick  and  wounded  there  should  be  not 
less  than  twenty-five  efficient  medical  officers  constantly  on  duty  in  the  stockade, 
in  order  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  sick  and  keep  the  proper  register  and  reports. 
Under  the   present   regime  hundreds   die  in   the   stockade   and  are  buried  whose 
names  and  diseases  are  unknown.     This  can  be  remedied  by  no  other  means  than 
by  a  sufficient  corps  of  medical  officers.     All  the  medical  officers  who  have  been 
on  duty  here  are  detailed  men  from  the  militia  and  contract  physicians,  and  as  a 
matter  of  course  are  very  inefficient. 

2.  Nature   of  Hospital   Accommodations. — The    hospital   is   situated   near   the 
southwest  corner  of  the  stockade,  covering  about  five  acres  of  ground,  enclosed 
by  a  frail  board  fence.     A  sluggish  stream  of  water  flows  through  the  southern 
part  of  this  lot.     The  ground  is  sloping  and  facing  the  southeast.     On  the  south- 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  VII,  series  2,  p.  830. 


104  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

west  side  of  the  enclosure  is  a  swamp  about  300  yards  in  width  and  on  the  north 
west  side  the  stream  which  flows  through  the  stockade,  the  banks  being  very  low 
and  subject  to  overflow.  From  these  swamps  arise  putrid  exhalations  at  times 
almost  insupportable.  It  will  be  seen  by  the  accompanying  drawing  "  A"  that 
the  hospital  is  but  a  short  distance  from  the  confluence  of  the  branch  and  the 
creek,  and  although  on  rolling  tableland  it  is  much  lower  than  the  surrounding 
country,  and  very  near  where  the  branch  disembogues  from  the  stockade,  occupying 
a  position  that  all  the  surrounding  depressing  agencies  would  seem  to  center  in 
the  hospital,  as  well  as  the  stockade.  The  number  of  medical  officers  is  deficient, 
with  a  few  exceptions  being  composed  of  men  who  are  either  detailed  or  under 
contract.  On  examining  the  roster  I  find  that  twenty-four  medical  officers  are 
charged  to  the  hospital,  and  yet  but  twelve  are  on  duty.  The  rest  either  by  order 
of  General  Brown  (at  their  own  request)  are  off  on  sick  leave  or  leave  of  indul 
gence.  In  order  to  attend  to  the  wants  of  the  sick  and  wounded  not  less  than 
thirty  efficient  medical  officers  should  be  on  duty  in  the  hospital.  Confusion  will 
necessarily  occur  without  this  number.  From  1,800  to  2,500  patients  are  crowded 
into  this  space.  Tents  of  a  very  inferior  quality  are  the  only  means  of  protection, 
a  majority  of  them  being  the  small  A  tents.  Temporary  bunks  are  erected  in 
most  of  them  by  driving  forks  into  the  ground  and  placing  small  poles  or  boards 
to  lie  on.  A  great  number  of  patients  are  compelled  to  lie  on  the  ground  in 
consequence  of  the  smallness  of  the  tents.  The  cooking  arrangements  are  very 
deficient;  two  large  kettles  erected  on  a  furnace  are  nearly  all  the  vessels  that 
are  used.  The  bread  is  baked  outside  of  the  hospital  in  the  stockade  enclosure. 
The  bread  is  of  the  most  unhealthy  character,  being  made  of  coarse,  unbolted  corn- 
meal.  This,  of  itself,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  must  prove  a  source 
of  great  irritation  to  the  bowels.  Scurvy,  gangrene,  and  bowel  affections  are 
prevailing  at  present  to  an  alarming  extent.  Frequent  issues  of  green  corn,  peas, 
molasses,  vinegar,  rice,  flour,  and  sweet  potatoes  are  being  made,  and  under  suitable 
hospital  accommodations  the  condition  of  the  sick  could  be  greatly  ameliorated. 
The  purveyor's  department  has  been  able  to  supply  nearly  all  the  necessary  medi 
cines.  The  indigenous  remedies  are  being  extensively  used  with  much  good  effect. 
The  medical  officers  in  charge  of  the  different  wards  and  divisions  are  all  diligent 
and  seem  willing  to  discharge  their  duties,  although  laboring  under  many  and 
great  disadvantages.  Great  efforts  have  been  made  to  make  the  stockade  secure 
and  prevent  the  escape  of  prisoners,  and  but  little  attention  paid  to  the  hygienic 
and  sanitary  condition  of  the  sick.  Surgeon  I.  H.  White,  chief  surgeon  post,  in 
formed  me  that  timely  requisitions  have  been  made  on  the  quartermaster's  de 
partment  for  the  necessary  materials  to  make  the  sick  and  wounded  comfortable, 
but  thus  far  he  has  been  unable  to  procure  scarcely  anything.  The  means  of 
transportation  be'ing  very  limited,  both  by  railroad  and  teams,  has  proved  a  source 
of  great  annoyance.  I  would  respectfully  suggest  that  the  necessary  steps  be 
taken  to  secure  transportation  for  hospital  material  over  all  other  stores  except 
ammunition.  This  would  at  once  remedy  a  great  evil. 

The  greatest  amount  of  confusion  seems  to  have  prevailed  in  consequence  of 
soliciting  attaches  for  the  hospital  from  Federal  prisoners  in  place  of  disabled 
Confederate  soldiers.  Great  waste  in  property,  medicines,  and  provisions  has  been 
the  result.  This  I  shall  endeavor  to  correct  as  speedily  as  possible. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCRIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  105 

I  would  respectfully  request  that  an  efficient  quartermaster  and  commissary  be 
ordered  to  report  to  me  for  special  hospital  duty,  with  full  power  from  the  war 
department  to  provide  for  the  comfort  of  the  sick  and  wounded  Federal  prisoners. 
Without  an  arrangement  of  this  kind  I  very  much  fear  the  hospital  department  in 
C.  S.  military  prison  will  continue  to  be  neglected. 

Hoping  that  this  communication  may  meet  with  favorable  consideration, 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

K.  B.  STEVENSON, 

Surgeon  in  Charge. 

This  report  was  sent  to  the  surgeon-general  late  in  September,  while 
Dr.  Jones  was  pursuing  his  investigations.  Over  a  month  had  elapsed 
since  Colonel  Chandler's  report  had  reached  the  surgeon-general  and 
other  officers  at  Richmond.  Surgeon  Stevenson  is  the  person  who  has 
published  a  book  in  defense  of  the  administration  of  the  Andersonville 
prison,  entitled  "The  Southern  Side,"  and  yet  he  himself  reported  a 
condition  almost  paralyzing  in  its  shocking  details.  What  can  be  said 
in  palliation  of  a  situation  which  warranted  the  statement — "Under 
the  present  regime  hundreds  die  in  the  stockade  and  are  buried,  whose 
names  and  diseases  are  unknown."  Into  this  stockade,  he  tells  his  chief, 
"30,000  to  40,000  prisoners  have  been  crowded;  no  protection  what 
ever  from  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun,  except  such  as  could  be  made 
from  blankets  or  dirt  hovels."  Such  was  that  stockade. 

Of  the  hospital  he  speaks  but  little  more  favorably ;  so  situated  "that 
all  the  surrounding  depressing  agencies  would  seem  to  center  in  the 
hospital,  as  well  as  in  the  stockade." 

He  says  further :  "Great  efforts  have  been  made  to  make  the  stock 
ade  secure  and  prevent  the  escape  of  prisoners,  and  but  little  attention 
paid  to  the  hygienic  and  sanitary  condition  of  the  sick." 

He  adds :  "Surgeon  I.  H.  White,  chief  post  surgeon,  informs  me  that 
timely  requisitions  have  been  made  on  the  quartermaster's  department 
for  the  necessary  materials  to  make  the  sick  and  wounded  comfortable, 
but  thus  far  he  has  been  unable  to  procure  scarcely  anything." 

On  October  31,  1864,  Surgeon  Stevenson  made  a  report,  through 
Surgeon  White,  to  General  Winder,1  in  which  he  reports : 

Eemaining  in  hospital,  October  1 1970 

Admitted  for  treatment  during  month ,. 1943 

Total  under  treatment  during  month .   3913 

.   1595 


1  War   of   Rebellion,    vol.  VII,  series  2,  p.  1075. 


106  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

This  report  shows  that  nearly  41  per  cent  of  those  under  treatment 
died  in  the  month  of  October.  Is  it  not  remarkable  that  no  steps  were 
taken,  such  as  had  been  "frequently  suggested"  as  necessary,  to  reform 
the  death-dealing  policy  and  methods  ?  What  must  have  been  the  con 
dition  previously  if  Surgeon  Stevenson  could  truthfully  say  there  had 
been  "a  marked  improvement  in  the  health  of  the  prisoners"  in  October, 
when  41  out  of  every  100  in  hospital  died  ?  * 

FIRST  DIVISION  C.  S.  MILITARY  PRISON  HOSPITAL^ 
Surgeon  E.  D.  EILAND,  September  5,  1864. 

In  Charge  First  Division  C.  S.  Military  Prison  Hospital: 

Sir:  As  officer  of  the  day  for  the  past  twenty-four  hours  I  have  inspected  the 
hospital  and  found  it  in  as  good  a  condition  as  the  nature  of  the  circumstances 
will  allow.  A  majority  of  the  bunks  are  still  unsupplied  with  bedding,  while  in 
a  portion  of  the  division,  the  tents  are  entirely  destitute  of  either  bunks,  bedding, 
or  straw,  the  patients  being  compelled  to  lie  upon  the  bare  ground.  I  would 
earnestly  call  your  attention  to  the  article  of  diet.  The  corn  bread  received 
from  the  bakery,  being  made  up  without  sifting,  is  wholly  unfit  for  the  use  of 
the  sick,  and  often,  as  in  the  last  twenty-four  hours,  upon  examination,  the 
inner  portion  is  found  to  be  perfectly  raw.  The  meat  (beef)  received  by  the 
patients  does  not  amount  to  over  two  ounces  per  day,  and  for  the  last  three  or 
four  days  no  flour  has  been  issued.  The  corn  bread  cannot  be  eaten  by  many, 
for  to  do  so  would  be  to  increase  the  diseases  of  the  bowels,  from  which  a  large 
majority  are  suffering,  and  it  is  therefore  thrown  away.  All  then  that  is  re 
ceived  by  way  of  subsistence  is  two  ounces  of  boiled  beef  and  a  half  pint  of  rice 
soup  per  day,  and  under  these  circumstances  all  the  skill  that  can  be  brought  to 
bear  upon  their  cases  by  the  medical  officers  will  avail  nothing.  Another  point 
to  which  I  feel  it  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  is  the  deficiency  of  medicines. 
We  have  little  more  than  indigenous  barks  and  roots  with  which  to  treat  the 
numerous  forms  of  disease  to  which  our  attention  is  daily  called.  For  the  treat 
ment  of  wounds,  ulcers,  etc.,  we  have  literally  nothing  except  water.  The  wards, 
some  of  them,  are  filled  with  gangrene,  and  we  are  compelled  to  fold  our  arms 
and  look  quietly  upon  its  ravages,  not  even  having  stimulants  to  support  the 
system  under  its  depressing  influences,  this  article  being  so  limited  in  supply 
that  it  can  only  be  issued  for  cases  under  the  knife.  I  would  respectfully  call 
your  earnest  attention  to  the  above  facts,  in  the  hope  that  something  may  be 
done  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  sick. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  CREWS  PELOT, 
Assistant  Surgeon,  Provisional  Army  C.  S.,  Officer  of  the  Day. 

These  medical  officers  were  on  duty  at  Andersonville  Prison  when 
Colonel  Chandler  made  his  inspection  and  report.  The  document 

1 1  do  not  find  this  report  in  Dr.  Stevenson's  book.  It  would  illy  support  his  volume  entitled 
"Southern  Side." 

a  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  VII,  series  2,  p.  773. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCEIBED  BY  CONFEDEKATES.  107 

above  given  was  a  report  a  month  later  and  shows  that  no  improve 
ment  followed  Colonel  Chandler's  inspection  and  recommendations. 

Eliminating  the  impossible  corn  bread,  "wholly  unfit  for  the  use  of 
the  sick/'  we  have  here  the  evidence  that  "two  ounces  of  boiled  beef 
and  a  half  pint  of  rice  soup"  constituted  the  daily  ration.  Let  us 
contrast  this  dietary  with  the  dietaries  furnished  by  the  British  in 
the  war  of  1812  to  their  prisoners,  and  ours  furnished  to  the  rebel 
prisoners.  In  the  Dartmoor  Prison  in  England,  our  men  taken  pris 
oners  were  allowed  for  the  first  five  days  in  the  week  24  ounces  of 
coarse  brown  bread,  8  ounces  of  beef,  4  ounces  of  barley,  one-third 
ounce  of  onions,  one-third  ounce  of  salt,  and  16  ounces  of  turnips 
daily  (or  more  than  50  ounces  of  solid  food) ;  and  for  the  remaining 
two  days  the  usual  allowance  of  bread  was  given  with  16  ounces  of 
pickled  fish.  At  the  Melville  Island  Prison,  at  Halifax,  the  prisoners 
were  given  16  ounces  of  bread,  16  ounces  of  beef,  and  one  gill  of  peas ; 
the  American  agent  furnishing  coffee,  sugar,  potatoes,  and  tobacco. 
The  United  States  allowed  to  the  rebel  prisoners  held  by  us  38  ounces 
of  solid  food  at  first;  but  afterwards,  in  June,  1864,  the  ration  was 
reduced  to  341/2  ounces  per  day.1 

CONFEDERATE  STATES  OF  AMERICA, 
SURGEON-GENERAL'S  OFFICE. 

EICHMOND,  VA.,  — : ,  186 — . 

Eeport  of  the  Sanitary  Condition  of  the  Confederate  States  Military  Prisons  at 
Camps  Sumter  and  Lawton,  Georgia,  by  Surgeon  Isaiah  H.  White* 

Having  been  ordered  to  this  post,  I  am  lending  my  aid  to  the  surgeon  in  charge 
in  the  construction  of  hospital  accommodations.  Temporary  sheds  are  being 
constructed  sufficient  in  number  and  capacity  to  accommodate  2,000  sick. 

Great  difficulty  is  experienced  in  procuring  from  the  quartermaster's  depart 
ment  the  necessary  tools  for  the  advancement  of  the  work.  Any  number  of 
laborers  can  be  obtained  among  the  prisoners,  and  with  the  necessary  tools  the 
work  could  soon  be  completed.  The  law  of  Congress  creating  a  hospital  fund  to 
provide  for  the  comfort  of  sick  and  wounded  is  completely  abrogated  by  the 
commissary  department  failing  to  fill  requisitions  for  funds. 

The  authority  granted  in  your  telegram  of  September  22,  to  divide  the  excess 
of  funds  at  Andersonville  among  the  new  prisons,  has  been  thwarted  by  the  com 
missary  at  that  post  in  failing  to  supply  funds.  Thus  we  are  crippled  and  em 
barrassed  by  the  quartermaster's  and  commissary  departments,  the  one  failing 
to  furnish  on  requisition  those  things  which  should  be  furnished  by  the  quarter 
master's  department,  and  the  other  to  furnish  funds  with  which  to  purchase  them 
in  the  market. 

1  Martyria,  A.  C.  Hamlin,  Dakin  and  Metcalf,  Cambridge  Press,  19,  1866,  p.  81. 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  VII,  series  2,  p.  1137. 


108  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSON  VILLE. 

A  large  excess  of  funds  at  Andersonville  will  be  turned  over  to  the  treasury, 
because  the  commissary  at  that  post  has  failed  to  supply  himself  with  funds  to 
meet  requisitions,  while  thousands  of  sick  both  at  this  post  and  Andersonville  are 
in  a  state  of  suffering  that  would  touch  the  heart  of  even  the  most  callous. 

Will  not  the  commissary-general  supply  the  funds,  even  after  the  monthly  state 
ment  of  hospital  fund  has  been  forwarded? 

Humanity  and  the  fame  of  the  government  demand  that  the  extreme  suffering 
among  the  prisoners  should  be  alleviated. 


ISAIAH  H.  WHITE, 
Surgeon,  Provisional  Army,  C.  S. 

[First  indorsement:]  Surgeon-General's  Office,  November  17,  1864.  Eespectful- 
ly  referred  to  the  secretary  of  war  for  information  as  to  the  relative  responsibility 
of  the  several  departments  for  the  actual  condition  of  the  sick  and  wounded  pris 
oners  of  war  at  this  camp.  S.  P.  MOORE,  Surgeon-General,  C.  S.  Army. 

[Second  indorsement:]  November  20,  1864.  Commissary-general  and  quarter 
master-general  for  prompt  attention  and  report.  J.  A.  S.,  Secretary  of  War. 

This  cry  of  humanity  had  been  going  up  to  Richmond  for  seven  or 
eight  months  with  the  uniform  result — no  action.  Even  now,  in  No 
vember,  when  41  per  cent  per  month  of  the  sick  were  dying,  the 
Richmond  authorities  were  satisfied  with  indorsements  on  the  appeals 
which,  finally  ended  in  pigeonholes  and  nothing  done.  The  appeal  to 
"humanity"  and  to  the  "fame"  of  the  government  was  futile. 

SURGEON  THORNBURG'S  REPORT. 

Dr.  Amos  Thornburg,  surgeon  at  Andersonville,  testified  fully.  His 
testimony  will  be  found  in  subsequent  pages.  He  made  a  report  to 
Dr.  Joseph  Jones  from  which  I  make  some  excerpts  as  further  illus 
trating  the  frightful  conditions  against  which  our  soldiers  had  to 
contend.1 

In  order  to  show  you  the  kind  of  material  we  have  to  work  on  it  will  be  neces 
sary  to  first  give  you  a  list  of  the  most  prevalent  diseases  among  the  prisoners, 
consequent  on  great  mental  and  nervous  depression,  from  long  confinement  in 
over-crowded  and  badly  arranged  prisons,  seclusion  from  society,  long-deferred 
hope,  a  lack  of  cleanliness,  insufficient  supply  of  nourishing  food,  a  want  of 
proper  exercise,  of  both  body  and  mind,  and  from  breathing  an  atmosphere  so 
much  vitiated  by  idio  miasma  as  to  be  insufficient  to  produce  the  proper  degree 
of  oxygenation  of  the  blood,  a  condition  so  necessary  to  both  mental  and  bodily 
soundness.  This  depraved  blood  then  affords  an  imperfect  stimulus  to  the  brain 
and  nervous  system,  and  as  a  result  we  have  languor  and  inactivity  of  the  menial 
and  nervous  functions,  with  a  tendency  to  headache,  syncope,  hypochondriasis, 
and  hemeralopia.  The  diseases  most  commonly  met  with  are  diarrhoea,  dysentery, 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  series  2,  vol.  VIII,  p.  625. 


CONDITIONS  AS  DESCEIBED  BY  CONFEDERATES.  109 

intermittent  and  remittent  fever,  with  continued,  or  camp,  fever,  as  many  term 
it.  We  also  have  catarrhal  affections,  with  occasional  pneumonia,  and  plueritis, 
and,  above  all,  scorbutus. 

As  it  so  rarely  happens  in  the  course  of  a  long  experience  of  the  medical  prac 
titioner  or  surgeon  that  he  has  an  opportunity  of  witnessing  this  most  formidable 
and  loathsome  disease  in  all  its  aggravated  forms,  it  might  not  be  amiss  to  in 
troduce  in  this  place  a  detailed  account  of  that  fearful  disease,  as  it  has  pre 
vailed  and  is  still  prevailing  in  this  prison.  But  as  that  would  be  a  work  of 
supererogation  and  lead  us  too  far  from  our  subject,  we  will  not  attempt  the 
task.  Out  of  30,000  prisoners  who  have  been  confined  at  this  place  during  the 
past  spring  and  summer,  perhaps  not  less  than  one-half  have  suffered  from  this 
disease  in  some  of  its  various  forms. 

As  a  sequel  to  the  above-named  diseases  we  have  oedema,  anasarca,  ascites, 
hydrothorax,  ansemia,  and  ulcers  of  nearly  every  variety  and  form.  These  ulcers 
are  produced  from  the  slightest  causes  imaginable.  A  pin  scratch,  a  prick  of  a 
splinter,  a  pustula,  an  abrasion,  or  even  a  mosquito  bite  are  sufficient  causes  for 
their  production.  The  phagedenic  ulcer  is  the  most  common  variety  met  with 
among  the  prisoners,  and  usually  commences  from  some  of  the  causes  enumerated 
above,  or  from  wounds  or  injuries  of  a  more  serious  nature.  When  from  any 
of  these  causes  an  ulcer  forms,  it  speedily  assumes  a  phagedenic  appearance  and 
extends  over  a  large  extent  of  surface,  and  presents  irritable,  jagged,  and  everted 
edges,  and  slowly  destroys  the  dead  tissues  down  to  the  bone.  The  surface  pre 
sents  a  large  ash-colored  or  greenish  yellow  slough  and  emits  a  very  offensive  odor. 
After  the  slough  is  removed  by  appropriate  treatment,  the  parts  beneath  show 
but  little  tendency  to  granulate.  Occasionally,  however,  apparently  healthy  gran 
ulations  spring  up  and  progress  finely  for  a  time,  and  again  fall  into  sloughing, 
and  thus,  by  an  alternate  process  of  sloughing  and  phagedenic  ulceration,  large 
portions  of  the  affected  member  or  large  masses  of  the  body  are  destroyed.  In 
this  condition  gangrene  usually  sets  in,  and  if  not  speedily  arrested  soon  puts  an 
end  to  the  poor  sufferer's  existence. 


Early  in  the  spring  smallpox  made  its  appearance  in  the  prison,  and  as  a 
prophylactic  measure  we  were  ordered  to  vaccinate  "all  who  could  not  show  a 
healthy  scar."  Consequently  we  went  to  work,  and  in  a  week  or  ten  days  2,000 
or  3,000  were  vaccinated.  Out  of  these  nearly  every  man  who  happened  to  be 
affected  with  scurvy  was  attacked  with  ulceration  of  the  pustule.  These  small 
ulcers  soon  began  to  slough  and  extend  over  a  large  extent  of  surface.  These 
sloughs  would  become  detached,  the  parts  beneath  suppurate,  as  in  the  case  of 
other  ulcers  in  a  sloughy  condition,  until  at  last  the  ulcer  would  become  phage 
denic  and  destroy  every  structure  in  its  track  for  a  considerable  extent.  In  this 
condition  gangrene  would  set  in,  and  if  the  disease  be  not  speedily  arrested  by 
powerful  escharotics,  emollient  poultices,  and  the  proper  vegetable  diet,  amputa 
tion  became  necessary,  or  the  poor  wretch  would  sink  under  the  irritation;  diar 
rhoea  or  dysentery  would  supervene  and  speedily  destroy  the  patient.  The  next 
and  most  common  form  of  ulcers  with  us  are  what  we  call  the  scorbutic  ulcer. 

In  severe  cases  of  scurvy  we  have  the  upper  and  lower  extremities  covered  with 
blue  or  livid  spots,  varying  from  the  size  of  a  millet  seed  to  three  or  four  inches 


110  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

in  diameter,  or  the  whole  leg  may  be  of  a  dark  livid  or  copper  color.  These 
blotches  become  painful,  open  and  ulcerate.  This  condition  continues  for  a  time, 
and  finally  slough,  destroying  whole  toes,  feet,  and  even  arms  and  legs,  apparently 
without  there  being  sufficient  energy  or  vitality  in  the  system  to  set  up  inflamma 
tory  action. 

He  submits  a  table  of  cases  treated  in  ward  five,  second  division  of 
the  hospital,  for  July,  August,  September,  and  to  October  5,  1864.  He 
expresses  regret  that  he  cannot  give  the  statistics  of  other  wards.  He 
says :  "It  will  be  seen  by  the  above  statement  that  we  have  treated,  in 
a  little  over  three  months,  325  patients,  and  out  of  that  number  208 
have  died." 

I  quote  further: 

We  will  close  this  paper,  lest  we  weary  you  with  dry  and  uninteresting  matter, 
by  giving  a  short  description  of  our  so-called  hospital.  We  have  from  1,600  to 
2,000  patients,  besides  nurses  and  attendants,  crowded  together  in  small  and 
almost  useless  tents  erected  on  less  than  three  acres  of  ground.  The  hospital  is 
erected  on  a  narrow  tongue  of  land  between  two  small  creeks,  on  each  side  of 
which  are  swamps  forty  and  fifty  yards  in  width;  on  the  west  and  up  these 
creeks  from  the  hospital  are  the  camps  and  stockade.  Now,  all  the  debris  from 
over  30,000  human  beings  has  to  pass  along  the  small  brook  on  the  north  of  the 
hospital  grounds  and  within  a  stone's  throw  of  patients'  tents. 

A  large  portion  of  this  filth  is  deposited  on  the  marsh  and  produces  a  most 
sickening  stench.  Our  patients  are  carried  from  the  stockade  and  placed  in  the 
tents  by  the  attendants.  We  put  in  the  common  small  A  tent  four  patients,  in 
the  large  wall  tent  eight,  and  in  the  common  fly  from  six  to  eight.  About  one- 
third  have  bunks  or  scaffolds  and  the  remainder  have  to  lie  on  the  ground  with 
out  straw  or  anything  else  to  protect  them  from  its  dampness. 

Those  who  are  not  fortunate  enough  to  have  a  blanket  are  compelled  to  lie  on 
the  damp  ground  with  no  covering  but  their  clothing,  which  in  many  instances 
they  have  worn  for  six  months  without  washing. 

The  diet  is  of  the  coarsest  kind,  consisting  of  boiled  beef,  rice,  molasses,  and 
coarse  corn  bread  baked  without  sifting,  and  from  one  to  two  ordinary-sized  bis 
cuits.  To  this  we  sometimes  have  added  a  small  allowance  of  vegetables,  such 
as  peas,  potatoes,  and  collards.  These  vegetables  are  generally  issued  raw  and 
the  patients  are  compelled  to  hire  their  comrades  to  cook  them  in  some  sort  of 
style  and  pay  them  out  of  their  scanty  allowance. 

With  these  facts  before  you,  you  will  not  wonder  at  the  fearful  mortality  pre 
sented  in  our  report  and  in  the  tabular  statement  from  our  ward,  presented  above. 

Feeling  we  have  done  our  whole  duty,  both  in  the  eyes  of  God  and  man,  we 
leave  the  matter  to  rest  with  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  furnish  supplies  and  build 
up  a  hospital  that  might  have  reflected  credit  on  the  government  and  saved  the 
lives  of  thousands  of  our  race. 

Who  were  the  persons  to  whom  Dr.  Thornburg  refers?  The  answer 
stands  out  in  all  these  pages.  They  could  by  means  at  hand  have 
"saved  the  lives  of  thousands  of  our  race."  Why  did  they  not  do  it  ? 


CHAPTER   VI. 

CONDITIONS  AT  THE  PBISON  (continued): — REPORTS  AND  TESTIMONY  OF  SURGEONS 
ON  DUTY  AT  THE  PRISON,  NAMELY:  DR.  AMOS  THORNBURG;  DR.  F.  T. 
CASTLEN;  DR.  G.  S.  HOPKINS;  DR.  G.  LEB.  RICE;  DR.  JOHN  C.  BATES;  DR. 
R.  G.  ROY;  DR.  B.  J.  HEAD — TESTIMONY  OP  DR.  WILLIAM  BALSER,  WHO  HAD 
OCCASION  TO  TREAT  A  LARGE  NUMBER  OF  PRISONERS  FROM  ANDERSONVILLE 
ON  THEIR  WAY  TO  FREEDOM  FROM  PRISON  LIFE — THEY  WERE  LIVING 
SKELETONS — SEVENTY-FIVE  PER  CENT  OF  DEAD  MIGHT  HAVE  BEEN  SAVED  BY 
PROPER  CARE — ACTUAL  SQUARE  FEET  TO  MAN  27,  OR  3  BY  9  FEET. 

IT  may  be  said  that  Colonel  Chandler  and  Dr.  Jones  had  not  the 
means  of  fully  informing  themselves,  and  that  they  based  their  con 
clusions  upon  a  superficial  examination  of  existing  conditions.  Colonel 
Chandler's  high  official  rank  repels  all  suggestion  of  wilful  misrepre 
sentation.  He  must  be  presumed  to  have  .reported  only  what  he  saw 
or  learned  from  reliable  sources.  Dr.  Jones's  personal  character  and 
professional  standing  have,  as  we  have  seen,  the  indorsement  of  Mr. 
Davis,  and  Dr.  Jones  tells  us  that  his  record  was  made  for  the  eyes  of 
the  Confederate  authorities  alone.  He,  therefore,  wrote  with  entire 
freedom.  It  seemed  not  to  have  occurred  to  him  that  he  was  furnish 
ing  important  evidence  which  some  day  would  most  convincingly 
show  that  a  great  crime  had  been  committed  at  Andersonville,  and 
that  he  was  forging  the  links  in  the  chain  of  proofs  which  would  tend 
to  fix  the  guilt  on  the  officials  who  sent  him  on  his  mission. 

But  the  evidence  does  not  depend  alone  on  the  two  important  re 
ports  found  in  the  preceding  chapter,  corroborated  as  they  are  by 
the  other  reports  quoted.  There  were  several  surgeons  called  as  wit 
nesses  who  were  on  duty  at  Andersonville  at  different  times  during  the 
entire  period  of  the  prison's  existence.  It  is  to  this  evidence  I  shall 
now  turn. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  AMOS  THORNBURG.1 

Dr.  Amos  Thornburg,  whose  report  appears  in  the  preceding  chap 
ter,  was  assigned  to  duty  there  on  April  14,  1864,  and  remained  until 
the  prison  was  closed.  He  testified: 

My  commission  bears  date  October  29,  1862.  I  served  a  little  over  two  years 
in  the  field,  except  what  time  I  was  a  prisoner.  On  the  10th  of  March,  1864, 

1  Record,  p.  332. 


112  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

I  was  relieved  from  field  duty  on  account  of  my  health  and  sent  back  to  a  hospital 
at  Oxford,  Georgia.  I  stayed  there  two  or  three  weeks,  and  was  then  ordered  to 
Andersonville  to  report  to  the  commander  of  the  prison  there.  I  reported  there 
on  the  14th  of  April,  1864.  I  reported  to  Colonel  Persons,  who  was  in  command 
of  the  post.  He  sent  me  to  Dr.  White,  the  surgeon  of  the  post,  and  Dr.  White 
assigned  me  to  duty  in  the  stockade.  I  prescribed  in  quarters  there  for  two  or 
three  months,  and  was  then  assigned  to  duty  at  the  hospital  outside  the  stockade 
by  Surgeon  White.  He  was  the  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  prison  as  well  as  the 
hospital.  I  then  remained  in  the  hospital  until  the  post  was  broken  up,  about 
the  5th  of  May,  1865,  as  well  as  I  recollect.  I  think  the  hospital  was  removed 
outside  the  stockade  in  June  or  in  the  latter  part  of  May.  I  remained  prescribing 
in  quarters  part  of  the  time  inside  the  stockade,  and  the  remainder  of  the  time 
at  the  gate,  I  suppose  till  the  latter  part  of  June.  I  have  no  data  to  fix  the  time 
when  I  was  sent  to  the  hospital  for  duty.  From  the  time  I  went  there  until  I 
left,  Captain  Wirz  was  in  command  of  the  prison. 

While  I  was  on  duty  in  the  hospital  I  frequently  made  reports  to  Surgeon 
White  in  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  hospital,  when  I  was  officer  of  the  day, 
which  would  happen  generally  about  once  or  twice  a  week. 

[A  paper  was  here  handed  to  the  witness.] 

That  is  a  copy  of  one  of  my  reports.  I  think  it  is  a  true  copy.  I  also  made 
reports  to  Dr.  Stevenson;  this  report  was  made  to  Dr.  Stevenson.  I  found  Dr. 
White  in  charge  when  I  went  there  on  the  15th  of  April,  and  he  remained  till 
about  the  time  the  prisoners  were  removed  to  Camp  Lawton.  I  think  he  went 
with  General  Winder.  That  was  in  the  beginning  of  September.  Surgeon  E.  E. 
Stevenson  succeeded  him,  and  continued  chief  surgeon  until  the  latter  part  of 
the  month  of  September,  1864;  I  think  about  the  25th.  Surgeon  H.  H.  Clayton 
succeeded  Dr.  Stevenson,  and  continued  in  charge  until  the  place  was  captured  by 
General  Wilson  or  the  post  was  abandoned. 

[The  paper  shown  to  witness,  and  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy,  was  then 
placed  in  evidence:] 

C.  S.  M.  P.  HOSPITAL, 

ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  September  26,  1864. 

SIR:  I  would  most  respectfully  call  your  attention  to  the  very  bad  sanitary 
condition  of  the  second  division,  as  well  as  the  whole  hospital,  to  the  immense 
quantity  of  filth  accumulating  in  the  streets,  and  to  the  filthiness  of  the  tents 
and  patients,  and  to  the  fact  that  it  cannot  be  otherwise  until  we  are  furnished 
with  the  means  with  which  to  work;  patients  lying  on  the  cold  ground  without 
bed  or  blanket;  and  also  that  we  have  a  very  scanty  supply  of  medicines,  and  that 
the  rations  are  not  of  the  proper  kind  and  not  issued  in  proper  quantity.  Hoping 
that  the  proper  steps  may  be  taken  to  remedy  these  defects, 

I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant,  A.  THORNBURG, 

Assistant  Surgeon,  P.  A.  C.  S. 
E.  E.  STEVENSON, 

Surgeon  in  Charge. 

When  Dr.  White  was  in  charge  I  made  similar  reports  to  him.  This  was  not 
the  only  report  I  ever  made  to  Dr.  Stevenson  on  the  subject;  not  by  a  great  many. 
There  was  a  quantity  of  hospital  clothing,  bed  sacks,  sheets,  &c.,  sent  there,  I  think 
a  short  time  before  Dr.  White  left  the  post.  I  do  not  know  the  number,  but 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDERATE  SUEGEONS. 


Gv*v«  >(»«*. 

lilii 


J13 


PLAN  •'  PRISON  GROUNDS 
ANDERS  ON  Vl!_|_E,GA. 

b-«     DT.  H»-mU-n.. 


there  were  several  bales.  When  Dr.  Stevenson  was  in  charge  I  was  in  charge 
of  the  surgical  ward  in  the  second  division,  generally  known  as  the  gangrene 
ward.  I  had  for  that  ward  some  scaffoldings  fixed  up  for  bunks,  and  I  fre 
quently  made  application  for  bed  sacks,  sheets,  &c.  I  got  a  few  bed  sacks, 
but  they  would  soon  become  dirty  and  I  would  send  them  off  to  be  washed,  and 
perhaps  not  see  them  any  more.  The  next  thing  I  would  see  would  be  some 
prisoner  with  a  pair  of  pantaloons  on  made  out  of  a  bed  sack,  and  I  would  make 
application  for  more.  I  knew  that  the  prisoners  needed  the  things,  being  desti 
tute  of  clothing,  and  I  made  no  complaints  about  their  taking  them.  I  very 
seldom  got  anything  that  I  made  requisition  for.  Dr.  Stevenson  never  offered 
me  any  excuse.  Sometimes,  when  I  would  talk  to  him  in  person,  he  would  tell 
me  that  he  aimed  to  have  a  hospital  constructed,  when  he  could  use  these  things 
and  have  them  better  cared  for,  but  that  if  they  were  issued  in  there  they  would 
be  made  way  with,  and  it  would  be  a  clear  loss  to  the  government.  That  time 
did  not  come  while  I  was  in  charge.  The  only  hospital  we  had  at  that  time 
was  a  tent.  After  Dr.  Clayton  took  charge,  about  the  first  of  January,  1865, 
he  began  for  the  first  time  to  construct  a  hospital,  and  he  had  it  pretty  well  on 
towards  completion  at  the  time  the  post  was  broken  up.  It  was  not  entirely 
completed.  It  was  used.  We  got  all  the  sick  out  of  the  tents  into  those  sheds 
that  were  built  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  hospital.  The  food  that  was  issued 
was  such  as  the  other  prisoners  and  the  soldiers  outside  could  get  from  the  commis 
sary,  mostly  bacon,  beef,  or  pickled  pork.  The  bacon  was  generally  very  good; 
the  beef  sometimes  was  rather  poor.  The  pickled  pork  that  came  in  was  very 


114  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

frequently  partly  spoilt;  it  smelt  badly,  was  hardly  fit  for  use,  and  we  had  at 
times  condemned  it  and  sent  it  back.  The  meal  that  was  issued  was  very  coarse, 
and  at  first  was  not  sifted  even  for  the  hospital.  That  was  under  Dr.  White. 
There  were  very  few  vegetables  issued  during  his  administration.  Sometimes 
we  would  get  a  few  collards,  and  tomatoes,  and  sweet  potatoes,  &c.,  but  in  very 
small  quantities.  That  was  under  Dr.  White.  It  was  a  little  better  under  Dr. 
Stevenson;  but  very  little  was  issued — not  enough  to  supply  the  demands  of  the 
sick.  The  cooking  department  was  also  very  bad;  we  had  to  cook  in  large  kettles, 
such  as  is  used  in  boiling  sorghum,  and  the  things  could  not  be  cooked  as  they 
should  have  been.  The  vegetables  were  sometimes  issued  raw  and  divided  out 
among  the  prisoners,  and  the  quantity  was  very  small.  They  had  sometimes  to 
get  their  comrades  to  cook  them,  and  they  generally  charged  a  portion  of  the 
articles  for  cooking  them.  They  complained  to  me  that  what  few  vegetables  they 
did  get  did  them  no  good,  which  I  knew  to  be  a  fact,  and  so  reported  in  some 
of  my  reports. 

The  supply  of  medicines  was  generally  insufficient.  The  surgeon  in  charge 
would  generally  make  a  requisition  for  medicine  to  have  it  on  the  first  of  the 
month,  but  it  was  usually  the  10th  before  we  got  the  supply,  and  when  we  did 
get  it,  such  articles  as  opium,  quinine,  and  other  valuable  medicines,  which  were 
very  scarce  in  the  Confederacy,  would  be  exhausted  in  the  course  of  ten  or  twelve 
days,  and  we  would  have  to  rely  on  such  indigenous  remedies  as  were  furnished 
•by  the  medical  purveyor.  We  had  large  quantities  of  them,  but  we  had  no 
laboratory  to  prepare  them  properly.  They  were  generally  put  up  in  decoctions 
and  infusions  by  the  hospital  steward.  The  prevailing  diseases  were  scorbutus, 
gangrene,  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  intermittent  and  remittent  fever,  typhoid  and 
typhus  fever.  Proper  provisions  were  the  remedy  that  was  needed  for  scorbu 
tus,  gangrene,  and  kindred  diseases;  it  was  a  waste  of  medicine.  What  medicine 
we  gave  I  considered  thrown  away,  because  we  did  not  have  proper  diet  for  the 
patients,  and  consequently  the  medicine  did  no  good;  yet  they  were  very  anxious 
to  get  medicine  to  relieve  them,  and  we  would  prescribe  what  we  had  and  have 
it  administered  to  them,  but  I  looked  upon  it  as  a  waste  of  medicine,  because  we 
•did  not  have  proper  diet.  I  regard  diet  as  the  main  thing  in  the  treatment  of 
most  of  the  diseases  we  had  to  contend  with.  We  had  a  great  deal  of  hospital 
gangrene  at  one  time. 

I  never  knew  much  about  the  hospital  fund.  1  only  knew  that  there  were 
orders  from  the  war  department,  the  assistant  inspector-general's  office,  that  the 
prison  hospital  should  be  on  an  equal  footing  with  the  Confederate  hospitals,  and 
that  the  surgeon  in  charge  should  be  allowed  to  draw  the  same  fund.  A  por 
tion  of  the  time  the  fund  was  a  dollar  a  day  for  each  patient,  and  after  a  while 
it  got  to  be  two  dollars  and  two  and  a  half  dollars  a  day.  I  think  it  amounted 
to  that  towards  the  last,  but  I  did  not  see  the  order.  I  know  of  no  reason  why 
it  could  not  have  been  drawn  at  Andersonville.  It  was  generally  drawn  at  other 
hospitals.  The  fund  was  sufficient  to  buy  vegetables  for  the  Confederate  hospi 
tals,  and  sometimes  large  amounts  of  the  fund  were  turned  over  to  other  and 
more  needy  hospitals.  My  understanding  was — and  I  had  a  little  knowledge  of  it, 
too — that  if  they  did  not  use  all  the  hospital  fund  for  that  purpose,  they 
were  allowed  to  use  it  for  other  purposes,  such  as  fitting  up  the  hospitals.  There 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDEEATE  SURGEONS.  115 

was  an  order  issued  from  Richmond  directing  that  the  surplus  fund  be  turned 
over  to  the  quartermaster  at  the  end  of  each  month.  I  do  not  remember  the 
date  of  the  order.  I  saw  the  weekly  account  current  one  time  in  the  hands  of 
the  hospital  steward,  Mr.  Kerr.  I  had  made  complaints  to  him  about  the 
condition  of  the  patients  and  the  condition  and  the  amount  of  the  rations  that 
came  in  and  the  amount  of  vegetables  and  other  nourishing  diet  that  was  to  be 
bought  with  the  hospital  fund.  Mr.  Kerr,  to  convince  me  that  these  things 
were  sent  in,  showed  me  the  weekly  statement  for  that  week.  In  looking  at  it 
I  remarked  that  those  things  never  came  into  the  hospital — at  least,  that  no  con 
siderable  part  of  them  had  come  in,  and  I  made  some  little  complaint  about  it 
to  the  other  surgeons,  and  we  began  to  talk  about  having  an  investigation  of  the 
matter.  We  called  on  Mr.  Kerr  after  that  for  the  book,  but  he  remarked  that 
Dr.  Stevenson  had  it  in  his  charge,  and  we  were  not  allowed  to  see  it.  I  never 
saw  it  after  that  until  Dr.  Stevenson  left  and  Dr.  Clayton  took  charge.  At 
that  time,  myself  and  three  or  four  other  surgeons  went  up  and  asked  Dr.  Clay 
ton  to  let  us  see  the  account  current.  He  showed  it  to  us,  and  on  examination 
we  found  that  large  quantities  of  things  which  appeared  by  the  book  to  have 
been  bought  had  never  come  into  the  hospital.  We  made  a  statement  of  the 
facts  to  the  surgeon-general  and  forwarded  it  by  mail.  A  few  days  afterwards 
Dr.  Eiland  was  ordered  to  Montgomery.  He  had  taken  an  active  part  in  this 
investigation,  and  we  requested  him  as  he  went  through  to  Montgomery  to  stop 
at  Columbus,  Georgia,  and  make  a  statement  to  the  medical  director.  He  did 
so.  At  the  time  he  made  that  statement,  Dr.  Gilliard,  one  of  the  surgeon-gen 
eral's  assistants,  happened  to  be  at  Columbus,  in  the  office  of  the  medical  director. 
He  and  Dr.  Flewellen  came  down  immediately  and  investigated  the  case,  and 
found  that  there  had  been  some  errors  in  regard  to  the  hospital  fund.  Dr. 
Stevenson  went  to  Columbia,  South  Carolina,  and  was  there  the  last  news  I  had 
from  him. 

The  mortality  was  generally  great  while  I  was  at  Andersonville.  I  attribute 
it  to  the  want  of  proper  diet  and  the  crowding  together  of  too  many  men  in  the 
prison  and  in  the  hospital.  There  was  too  small  a  space  of  ground  for  the 
number  of  prisoners  we  had  there.  There  was  a  great  lack  of  shelter  and  a  lack 
of  fuel.  I  think  that  was  also  a  cause  of  mortality.  I  believe  that  is  all  the 
•causes  I  can  recollect  just  now. 

The  worst  cases  that  were  in  the  stockade  were  brought  generally  to  the  hos 
pitals  for  treatment.  While  I  prescribed  there,  for  the  first  few  months  the 
hospitals  outside  were  very  much  crowded,  and  they  could  not  make  room  for 
all  the  patients  that  ought  to  have  been  sent  out.  I  would  sometimes  prescribe 
while  at  the  stockade  gate  for  five  hundred  patients  in  a  day.  In  order  to  do 
that  we  had  to  prescribe  by  formulas;  to  make  out  formulas  for  different 
diseases  and  number  them,  and  then  just  examine  a  man  and  set  down  the  num 
ber  of  the  prescription  that  he  was  to  take  opposite  his  name,  with  directions. 
Frequently  there  would  be  no  vacancies  in  the  hospital  at  all.  Some  days  we 
could  not  send  any  to  the  hospital.  At  other  times  perhaps  fifty,  sixty,  or  a 
hundred  men  would  have  died  during  the  day  previous  and  there  would  be  that 
many  vacancies,  and  we  would  be  allowed  to  send  in  a  pro  rata  number  to  fill 
those  vacancies.  There  were  generally  some  ten  or  twelve  surgeons  and  assistant 


116  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

surgeons  prescribing  at  the  stockade  gate,  and  each  one  would  be  allowed  to 
send  in  a  certain  number  to  fill  the  vacancies.  Some  days  we  would  send  in 
one,  two,  three  apiece,  sometimes  ten  apiece,  and  some  days,  when  the  hospital 
would  be  enlarged,  as  high  as  thirty  or  forty  apiece.  One  day  we  sent  three  or 
four  hundred  among  us  out  of  the  stockade  to  the  hospital.  I  presume  there 
were  a  good  many  in  the  stockade  that  could  not  come  out,  and  if  they  did  not 
have  friends  to  carry  them  out  in  their  blankets  or  upon  their  backs,  they  would 
perhaps  not  get  prescriptions.  Sometimes  the  sergeants  who  drew  the  rations 
and  had  charge  of  the  squads  would  represent  to  the  surgeons  the  cases  of  men 
who  were  not  able  to  come  out,  and  had  requested  them  to  get  certain  medicines; 
and  if  the  diseases  were  such  as  we  could  prescribe  for,  we  would  very  frequently 
set  the  name  of  such  a  man  down  and  the  number  of  the  prescription  that  he 
should  have,  and  that  medicine  was  then  issued  to  the  sergeant,  and  he  delivered 
it  to  the  man,  I  suppose.  Deaths  occurred  in  the  stockade  frequently.  I  suppose 
some  died  that  never  had  got  prescriptions.  Sometimes  there  would  be  a 
very  sick  man  brought  from  the  stockade,  and  he  would  be  marked  in  the  sur 
geon's  book  for  admittance  to  the  hospital;  he  would  have  to  remain  at  the 
gate  until  all  the  surgeons  got  through  prescribing,  so  that  the  men  who  carried 
them  to  the  hospital  could  discriminate  and  take  the  proper  ones.  It  generally 
took  us  from  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning  till  twelve  o'clock  noon  before  we 
would  get  through  prescribing,  and  sometimes  very  bad  cases  would  die  while 
waiting  there  to  be  carried  to  the  hospital.  I  had  charge  of  so  many  divisions 
in  the  stockade,  and  frequently  when  a  man  from  one  of  my  divisions  would  die 
in  that  way,  the  clerk  who  kept  the  death  register  would  ask  me  the  man's  rank 
and  regiment  and  name,  and  the  squad  to  which  he  belonged.  Several  men 
might  have  died  at  my  post  when  I  was  prescribing  and  I  could  not  recollect 
anything  about  any  particular  one.  There  would  be  two  or  three  dead,  and  we 
could  not  identify  them.  After  that  I  adopted  the  plan  of  writing  the  name, 
rank,  regiment,  and  disease  of  each  man  on  a  piece  of  paper  and  pinning  it  to 
the  breast  of  his  coat  or  some  part  of  his  clothing.  It  worked  very  well,  and  I 
recommended  Dr.  White  to  issue  an  order  requesting  all  the  surgeons  who  pre 
scribed  at  the  stockade  gate  to  adopt  the  same  plan.  He  did  issue  such  an  order, 
and  the  system  was  adopted  June,  1864.  Up  to  that  time  there  were  more  or 
less  of  these  imperfect  records.  Very  frequently  men  died  in  the  stockade  who 
could  not  be  identified  by  any  person  in  there,  because  men  suffering  from  scurvy 
would  frequently  fall  dead  in  the  streets.  It  was  also  not  unfrequently  the  case 
that  a  man  was  murdered  in  there,  and  murdered  perhaps  away  from  his  friends, 
and  he  would  be  carried  out  of  the  stockade  gate  and  nobody  could  identify  him. 
So  far  as  the  names  of  the  men  and  the  diseases  that  they  had,  the  hospital 
register  was  kept  with  great  accuracy.  If  a  man  came  to  me  I  would  diagnose 
his  case,  and  send  him  to  the  hospital  with  a  statement  of  the  disease  which  I 
considered  that  he  had.  That  was  generally  entered  upon  the  register,  but, 
perhaps,  he  would  have  half  a  dozen  supervening  diseases  after  he  went  into  the 
hospital.  The  supervening  diseases  were  hardly  ever  entered  on  the  register,  but 
generally  only  the  disease  with  which  he  went  from  the  stockade.  I  do  not  know 
what  entry  was  made  on  the  register  when  a  man  was  shot  in  the  stockade.  I 
suppose  the  cause  of  death  would  be  called  "vulnus  sclapeticum" ;  that  is  the 
technical  name  for  gunshot  wound,  and  I  suppose  that  would  be  the  entry.  Such 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDERATE  SURGEONS.  117 

an  entry  might  be  in  the  case  of  a  man  who  had  received  wounds  on  the  field  of 
battle  somewhere. 

Q.  If  a  man  in  the  stockade  had  been  shot  in  the  stockade,  and  the  hospital 
register  showed  that  he  died  of  scorbutus,  what  would  be  the  fact  in  that  case? 

A.  I  do  not  suppose  the  register  would  show  that,  unless  the  man  so  shot  was 
a  patient,  and  under  treatment  for  scorbutus  at  the  time. 

Q.  Examine  the  register  now  handed  you,  and  examine  it  with  some  care,  and 
state  whether  you  recognize  it,  and  whether  it  has  any  appearance  of  having  been 
tampered  with  or  changed  since  you  saw  it  at  the  hospital. 

[Objected  to  by  Mr.  Baker  until  the  book  was  proved,  and  objection  overruled.] 

A.  I  recognize  the  book  as  being  the  hospital  book  kept  at  Andersonville.  I 
see  no  marks  that  would  indicate  that  it  had  been  tampered  with,  except  some 
pencil  marks  on  the  margin,  which  I  suppose  are  check  marks. 

[The  witness  pointed  out  the  marks  referred  to.] 

[The  hospital  register  was  offered  in  evidence  and  accompanies  the  record.] 

F.  M.  TRYON,  clerk  to  the  commission,  a  witness  on  the  part  of  the 
prosecution,  being  duly  sworn,  was  examined  as  follows : 

Q.     Examine  the  register  and  state  what  the  pencil  marks  are. 

A.  This  book  was  given  to  me  by  Colonel  Chipman  to  prepare  an  exhibit  of 
the  number  of  deaths,  &c.,  which  I  did;  and,  in  taking  off  the  number  of  deaths 
I  made  the  check  marks  referred  to  by  the  witness. 

[The  examination  of  Dr.  AMOS  THORNBURG  was  then  resumed.] 

Q.  Examine  the  three  indexes  of  the  hospital  register  handed  to  you  and  see  if 
you  recognize  them? 

A.     I  do;  and,  so  far  as  I  can  see,  they  are  all  correct. 

[The  books  were  put  in  evidence  by  the  Judge  Advocate,  and  accompany  this 
record.] 

Q.  I  notice  in  this  register  very  many  entire  columns  representing  that  a  patient 
was  admitted,  for  instance,  August  $,  and  died  August  8,  and  in  the  column  of 
remarks,  "died  in  quarters,"  and  again  admitted  August  9,  died  August  9,  "died 
in  quarters,"  and  so  on  all  through  the  book ;  what  does  the  remark  "died  in 
quarters"  mean? 

A.  I  think  Dr.  Stevenson,  perhaps,  would  have  to  make  a  report  of  those  cases, 
and  they  would  have  to  be  reported  as  having  died  of  something,  and  as  having 
died  in  hospital.  I  think,  perhaps,  there  was  an  order  that  caused  him  to 
report  them  on  the  death  register  in  hospital,  and  yet  in  the  remarks  they  are 
put  down  "died  in  quarters";  that  means  in  the  stockade.  I  never  knew  how 
he  fixed  up  that  difficulty.  There  were  a  great  many  things  in  reference  to  the 
hospital  that  I  never  could  understand,  and  this  was  one  of  them.  I  suppose 
"unknown"  would  be  the  entry  in  cases  where  the  surgeon  could  not  make  out 
a  proper  diagnosis  of  the  case.  Those  six  men  that  were  hung  were  marked  as 
having  died  of  "asphyxia."  I  do  not  recollect  the  date  those  men  were  hung, 
but  I  know  they  were  all  marked  as  having  died  of  asphyxia.  I  asked  the  clerk 
in  the  hospital  how  he  had  entered  those  cases,  and  he  referred  me  to  the  book, 
and  showed  me  that  he  had  marked  them  "asphyxia." 


118  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  On  page  110  of  the  hospital  record  there  are  given 
the  names  of  six  men  who  died  of  asphyxia,  and  in  the  column  of  remarks, 
"Tried  by  court-martial,  and  executed  inside  the  prison;"  that  is  the  record. 

WITNESS.     Those  are  no  doubt  the  men  who  were  hung. 

Q.  I  notice  on  examining  this  register  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  patients 
recorded  as  having  been  admitted  died  in  hospital,  many  of  them  the  day  they 
were  admitted,  or  immediately  after,  and  that  a  few  seem  to  be  recorded  as 
"returned  to  the  stockade."  Will  you  state  to  the  court  what  your  observation 
was  with  regard  to  the  proportion  that  were  returned  to  the  stockade  after  being 
treated  in  the  hospital? 

A.  Well,  I  have  no  data  from  which  I  can  state  how  many  were  returned  to 
the  stockade.  The  proportion,  however,  was  small.  Sometimes  a  man  would 
come  to  the  hospital  and  be  treated  there  and  relieved  of  his  disease,  but  in  the 
meantime  some  of  the  surgeons  would  become  acquainted  with  him,  and,  per 
haps,  would  have  him  detailed  as  a  nurse,  or,  perhaps  he  would  be  detailed  out 
side  the  stockade  for  some  other  business,  and  hence  he  was  not  returned  to 
quarters.  The  proportion  actually  returned  to  quarters  was  very  small.  I  never 
met  among  my  own  patients — those  I  had  treated  myself — any  cases  where  I  was 
unable  to  give  a  diagnosis  of  the  cause  of  death,  and  where  I  had  to  report  the 
disease  as  "unknown."  I  have  met  with  patients  after  they  were  dead  where  T 
could  not  tell  the  cause  of  death.  I  have  frequently  seen  men  brought  out  of 
the  stockade  dead,  and  I  did  not  know  what  they  died  of. 

My  idea  is  that  a  large  proportion  could  have  been  saved  by  proper  diet  and 
proper  quarters,  perhaps  one-half.  I  will  say  that  one-half  might  have  been 
saved  if  we  had  had  proper  nourishing  diet  and  the  proper  kind  of  hospital 
accommodations. 

Q.  Eemembering  the  condition  of  these  prisoners,  and  the  scanty  supply  of 
fuel  they  had,  was  there  weather  there  that  would  have  killed  them — frozen  them 
to  death? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  I  suppose  there  was,  in  their  emaciated  condition.  I  do  not 
know  of  any  cases  of  that  kind.  I  cannot  give  the  temperature  in  summer  in 
that  climate.  I  think  I  have  not  seen  a  thermometer  since  I  have  been  in  that 
country.  Last  summer,  I  suppose,  the  hottest  day  we  had  would  not  have  gone 
over  96  degrees  or  98  degrees  in  the  shade.  In  the  summer  of  1865  I  should 
think  it  went  up  to  108  degrees  in  the  shade.  It  was  pretty  hot  in  the  sun.  I 
could  not  tell  how  many  degrees  in  the  sun. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  I  call  the  attention  of  the  court  to  page  337  of  the 
hospital  register,  where  I  find  this  record:  "T.  Gerrity,  106  Penna.,  frozen  to 
death;  admitted  January  3;  died  January  3;  died  in  the  stockade." 

WITNESS.  I  cannot  give  the  temperature  under  the  rays  of  the  sun  in  summer. 
It  would  be  mere  guess-work.  A  man  who  had  to  ride  in  it,  as  I  have  had  to  do, 
would  think  it  was  almost  up  to  boiling-point.  I  suppose  it  would  run  up  to  150 
degrees  in  the  sun.  I  never  saw  it  tried,  but  I  would  think  so.  In  that  remark  I 
refer  to  the  summer  of  1865.  It  was  not  so  high  at  any  time  during  the  summer  of 
1864,  because  that  was  a  wet  summer. 

Q.     Would  the  heat  be  somewhere  in  that  neighborhood? 

A.     I  think  that  would  be  a  fair  proportion.     When  the  thermometer  was  over 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDERATE  SUEGEONS.  119 

one  hundred  in  the  shade,  I  think  it  would  stand  a  great  many  degrees  higher  in 
the  sun. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  F.  G.  CASTLEN. 

Dr.  F.  G.  Castlen  was  on  duty  as  regimental  surgeon  of  the  Third 
Georgia  Reserves.  He  testified  as  to  some  matters  not  properly  bear 
ing  upon  the  question  to  which  the  evidence  is  now  more  particularly 
being  directed.  The  testimony  will  be  given  here,  but  should  be  con 
sidered  in  connection  with  subsequent  chapters.  He  testified  i1 

I  have  been  in  the  Confederate  army  during  the  last  two  years.  From  May  until 
September,  1864,  at  Andersonville;  the  remaining  portion  of  the  time  in  South 
Carolina.  I  was  surgeon  of  the  Third  Georgia  Reserves  while  at  Andersonville. 
I  occasionally  had  opportunities  of  observing  the  prisoners  in  the  stockade  at 
Andersonville.  Their  condition  was  deplorable;  language  could  not  express  the 
condition  in  which  I  saw  them  at  that  time.  The  stench  was  intolerable.  It 
sometimes  came  up  to  my  camp,  a  half  a  mile  distant.  It  was  only  during  an 
east  wind  that  I  was  troubled  with  the  stench  arising  from  the  stockade.  I 
saw  negroes  at  work  there  at  one  time.  I  do  not  know  in  what  numbers;  twenty 
or  thirty,  I  suppose. 

It  was  a  pine  country  about  there.  Farms  were  carried  on  there.  I  have 
seen  cucumbers,  squashes,  cabbages,  potatoes,  collards,  and  melons  in  market.  I 
was  at  market  frequently.  I  saw  different  kinds  of  vegetables  there  at  different 
times — not  all  I  have  mentioned  at  the  same  time.  I  don't  suppose  my  regiment 
procured  their  vegetables  from  the  market;  they  generally  got  them  from  their 
homes.  I  have  seen  vegetables  in  the  camp  at  different  times.  I  do  not  know 
that  they  purchased  them  at  market. 

At  one  time  my  regiment  was  very  unhealthy.  That  was  in  June,  I  think. 
They  were  in  a  very  healthy  condition  afterwards.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  getting 
medicines  that  I  wanted. 

I  have  seen  the  prisoner,  Captain  Wirz.  I  do  not  know  what  his  duties  were 
officially  at  Andersonville.  I  saw  acts  of  cruelty  committed  by  Captain  Wirz 
on  one  or  two  occasions.  At  one  time  the  prisoners  were  being  removed,  I  think 
to  Savannah.  One  prisoner  was  out  of  the  ranks;  Captain  Wirz  jerked  and 
struck  him,  I  think,  once  or  twice;  don't  remember  how  many  times,  but  I  think 
once  or  twice. 

I  saw  one  man  who  had  been  bitten  by  the  dogs.  I  saw  the  dogs  bite  him. 
I  saw  the  dogs  running  down  the  swamp  below  my  camp.  I  went  down,  and 
when  I  reached  the  brow  of  the  hill,  I  heard  the  dogs  baying;  going  down,  I 
saw  this  man  up  the  tree.  I  heard  some  one  order  him  down.  I  don't  know 
who  it  was.  He  came  down,  and  I  saw  the  dogs  seize  him.  Captain  Wirz  was 
there  with  the  hounds. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  G.  S.  HOPKINS. 

Dr.  G.  S.  Hopkins  was  sent  by  General  Winder  to  make  a  report  on 
the  prison,  and  remained  there  from  some  time  in  July,  1864,  until 
September  of  that  year.  His  report  of  August  1,  1864,  to  General 

1  Record,  p.  108  et  seq. 


120  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

Winder,  is  embodied  in  his  testimony.  It  shows  in  concrete  form  the 
causes  of  disease  and  mortality ;  the  preventive  measures  suggested  for 
relieving  the  stockade  and  the  hospital.  It  reaches  beyond  mere  cor- 
roboration  of  Colonel  Chandler's  report  and  more  than  confirms  Dr. 
Jones's  statements.  He  testified : 1 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.   G.    S.    HOPKINS. 

I  reside  in  Thomasville,  Georgia,  about  one  hundred  or  one  hundred  and  ten 
miles  from  Andersonville.  I  have  resided  in  the  South  during  the  Rebellion.  I 
was  at  Andersonville  during  the  summer  of  1864.  In  July,  1864,  an  order  was 
issued  by  the  governor  of  the  State  of  Georgia  putting  the  physicians  into  the 
militia  service.  He  claimed  that  they  were  liable  to  the  militia  service,  though 
exempt  by  Confederate  law.  I  went  to  Macon  then  and  had  my  choice  either  to 
go  into  the  medical  department  or  to  go  into  the  trenches.  I  did  not  feel  able 
to  shoulder  the  musket.  I  was  assigned  to  duty  at  Andersonville,  and  ordered  to 
report  to  Chief  Surgeon  White  on  the  22d  of  July,  1864.  I  remained  there  until 
September  8,  when  I  was  ordered  to  report  to  the  commanding  officer  at  Camp 
Lawton,  the  new  prison  at  Millen.  I  graduated  as  a  physician  in  March,  1845. 

I  there  received  orders  to  make  a  thorough  inspection  of  the  Federal  prison 
and  hospital  at  that  place,  and  report,  if  I  possibly  could,  the  causes  of  disease 
and  mortality  among  the  Federal  prisoners,  and  to  make  such  suggestions  as  I 
deemed  necessary  to  prevent  further  sickness  and  mortality.  Chief  Surgeon  White 
and  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  Watkins  were  on  the  committee  with  me  under  this 
order.  On  the  29th  of  July  we  made  a  thorough  inspection  of  the  prison  and 
hospital  in  obedience  to  that  order.  I  have  my  report  here. 

[The  paper  which  was  exhibited  to  witness,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy, 
was  offered  in  evidence,  and  is  attached  to  this  record:] 

ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  August  1,  1864. 

GENERAL:  In  obedience  to  your  order  of  July  28th  requiring  us  to  make  a  careful 
examination  of  the  Federal  prison  and  hospital  at  this  place,  and  to  ascertain  and 
report  to  you  the  cause  of  disease  and  mortality  among  the  prisoners,  and  the  means 
necessary  to  prevent  the  same,  this  has  been  complied  with,  and  we  respectfully 
submit  the  following: 

Causes  of  Disease  and  Mortality. 

1.  The  large  number  of  prisoners  crowded  together. 

2.  The  entire  absence  of  all  vegetables  as  diet,  so  necessary  as  a  preventive  of 
scurvy. 

3.  The  want  of  barracks  to  shelter  the  prisoners  from  sun  and  rain. 

4.  The  inadequate  supply  of  wood  and  good  water. 

5.  Badly  cooked  food. 

6.  The  filthy  condition  of  prisoners  and  prison  generally. 

7.  The   morbific    emanations    from   the   branch    or   ravine   passing    through   the 
prison,  the  condition  of  which  cannot  be  better  explained  than  by  naming  it  a 
morass  of  human  excrement  and  mud. 

Preventive  Measures. 

1.  The  removal  immediately  from  the  prison  of  not  less  than  15,000  prisoners. 

2.  Detail  on  parole  a  sufficient  number  of  prisoners  to  cultivate  the  necessary 

1  Record,  p.  376. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDEEATE  SUKGEONS.  121 

supply  of  vegetables,  and  until  this  can  be  carried  into  practical  operation,  the 
appointment  of  agents  along  the  different  lines  of  railroad  to  purchase  and  forward 
a  supply. 

3.  The  immediate  erection  of  barracks  to  shelter  the  prisoners. 

4.  To  furnish  the  necessary  quantity  of  wood,  and  have  wells  dug  to  supply  the 
deficiency  of  water. 

5.  Divide  the  prisoners  into  squads,  place  each  squad  under  the  charge  of  a 
sergeant,  furnish  the  necessary  quantity  of  soap,  and  hold  these  sergeants  respon 
sible  for  the  personal  cleanliness  of  his  squad;    furnish  the  prisoners  with  clothing 
at  the  expense  of  the  Confederate  government,  and  if  the  government  be  unable  to 
do   so,  candidly   admit   our   inability   and   call   upon  the   Federal   government   to 
furnish  them. 

6.  By  a  daily  inspection  of  bake-house  and  baking. 

7.  Cover  over  with  sand  from  the  hillsides  the  entire  "morass"  not  less  than  six 
inches  deep,  board  the  stream  or  water-course  and  confine  the  men  to  the  use  of  the 
sinks,  and  make  the  penalty  for  disobedience  of  such  orders  severe. 

For  the  Hospital. 

We  recommend — 

1st.  The  tents  be  floored  with  planks;  if  planks  cannot  be  had,  with  puncheons; 
and  if  this  be  impossible,  then  with  fine  straw,  to  be  frequently  changed. 

2d.  We  find  an  inadequate  supply  of  stool-boxes,  and  recommend  that  the  num 
ber  be  increased,  and  that  the  nurses  be  required  to  remove  them  as  soon  as  used, 
and  before  returning  them  see  that  they  are  well  washed  and  limed. 

3d.  The  diet  for  the  sick  is  not  such  as  they  should  have,  and  we  recommend  that 
they  be  supplied  with  the  necessary  quantity  of  beef  soup  with  vegetables. 

4th.  We  also  recommend  that  the  surgeons  be  required  to  visit  the  hospitals  not 
less  than  twice  a  day. 

We  cannot  too  strongly  recommend  the  necessity  for  the  appointment  of  an 
efficient  medical  officer  to  the  exclusive  duty  of  inspecting  daily  the  prison  hos 
pital  and  bakery,  requiring  of  him  daily  reports  of  their  condition  to  headquarters. 

We  have  the  honor  to  remain,  general,  very  respectfully, 

T.  S.  HOPKINS, 

Brigadier-General  JOHN  H.  WINDER.  Acting  Assistant  Surgeon. 

[Indorsed:]    Inspection  report  of  Andersonville  Prison,  July,  1864. 

The  name  of  H.  E.  Watkins,  acting  assistant  surgeon,  is  also  attached  to  this 
report.  I  submitted  the  report  to  Chief  Surgeon  White.  I  waited  two  days,  sup 
posing  that  he  would  hand  in  his  report.  As  that  did  not  make  its  appearance, 
I  called  on  him  at  his  headquarters.  He  asked  me  "if  I  had  written  out  my  report." 
I  told  him  that  I  was  waiting  for  him,  but  that  I  had  written  out  some  suggestions. 
I  read  them.  He  approved  them,  saying  I  had  written  the  truth.  He  told  me  to 
take  my  report  to  the  Sumter  Hospital,  have  it  copied,  getting  Dr.  Watkins  to  sign 
it  with  me,  and  then  send  it  to  his  headquarters,  and  he  would  send  it  to  General 
Winder.  I  did  so.  Several  days  elapsed.  I  heard  nothing  of  the  report  until  the 
field-officer,  Colonel  Harkey,  of  the  Fifty-fifth  Georgia,  who  was  messing  with  me, 
told  a  gentleman  in  my  presence  that  two  medical  reports  had  been  submitted  to 
him  and  other  officers  for  inspection  to  report  upon  them.  I  asked  him  if  he  had 
mine.  He  said  he  had.  They  were  to  decide,  I  think,  which  report  was  to  be 
received.  The  chief  surgeon  did  not  sign  our  report,  but  made  another  one.  His 
report  was  rather  different;  he  did  not  make  altogether  the  same  recommendations 
that  I  did.  When  I  read  him  my  report  he  approved  it,  and  told  me  that  he 
would  sign  it  if  I  had  it  copied  and  sent  to  him.  I  did  have  it  copied,  and  sent 
it  up  immediately.  I  know  that  he  did  not  sign  it,  because  I  saw  the  report  after- 


122  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

ward,  and  I  saw  his  report,  which  was  different.  I  was  assigned  to  the  engineer 
department.  The  engineer  officer  in  charge  told  me  that  he  had  from  1,000  to  1,200 
negro  men  on  the  works.  I  was  the  surgeon  assigned  to  that  department.  None  of 
my  cases  died,  except  one  man,  who  went  away  and  died  after  he  got  home.  Those 
men  were  under  my  charge  from  July  22,  1864,  till,  I  think,  the  8th  of  September, 
when  I  left,  having  been  ordered  to  Millen.  1  went  down  with  a  portion  of  them. 

Q.  Did  you  find,  by  your  examination,  that  Captain  Wirz  was  in  any  degree 
the  cause  of  the  ills  complained  of — the  overcrowding  of  the  prisoners,  etc.? 

A.  I  do  not  know  at  whose  door  the  fault  lay;  but  the  facts  were  evident. 
Captain  Wirz's  sign  at  his  office  designated  him  as  the  "commandant  of  the  interior 
of  the  prison."  I  could  not  see  any  great  difficulty  in  carrying  out  those  sugges 
tions  I  made.  I  think  I  could  have  had  it  done  without  much  trouble.  I  cannot 
say  if  Captain  Wirz  was  responsible  for  the  overcrowded  condition  of  the  prison; 
I  don't  know  who  was  responsible  for  it. 

Q.  In  your  opinion  was  Captain  Wirz  responsible  for  the  evils  existing  when 
you  made  your  report?  Did  you  discover  anything  which  led  you  to  believe  that 
he  was  in  any  degree  guilty  in  that  respect? 

A.  If  I  am  compelled  to  answer  that  question,  I  must  state,  unhesitatingly, 
that  it  was  the  implicit  confidence  which  General  Winder  had  in  Captain  Wirz 
that  caused  that  state  of  things  to  exist;  otherwise,  the  general  would  certainly 
have  visited  the  prison,  and  seen  for  himself  its  condition.  General  Winder  did  not 
visit  the  prison  while  I  was  there,  that  I  ever  knew  of.  I  never  heard  of  his  going 
to  the  prison.  He  might  have  gone  there  without  my  knowledge ;  I  cannot  say  that 
he  did  not  visit  the  prison. 

This  report  was  made  a  few  days  before  Colonel  Chandler  came 
upon  the  scene.  Let  me  ask  the  reader  to  examine  the  seven  causes, 
here  set  down  by  Dr.  Hopkins,  of  the  great  mortality  at  the  prison, 
and  ask  himself  whether  there  is  a  single  one  of  these  causes  which 
might  not  have  been  removed.  Look  at  the  preventive  measures  sug 
gested.  Were  they  not  practical  ?  Do  we  not  know  from  the  evidence 
already  given  that  it  was  within  the  power  of  the  prison  management 
to  have  carried  out  every  one  of  the  seven  preventive  measures  recom 
mended?  Here  were  thirty-odd  thousand  human  beings  for  whose 
health  and  comfort  and  lives  the  rebel  government  had  assumed  the 
responsibility.  They  were  starving  for  want  of  food;  suffering  for 
so  simple  and  abundant  a  thing  as  water;  exposed  in  their  nakedness 
to  the  burning  sun  by  day  and  the  chill  and  dews  and  storm  of  the 
night;  breathing  foul  air  from  the  morass  and  dying  at  the  rate  of 
a  hundred  a  day,  and  the  sick  with  grossly  inadequate  medical 
attendance ! 

TESTIMONY  OP  DR.  G.  L.  B.  RICE. 

Dr.  Jones  came  along  in  September,  and  from  him  we  learn  that 
there  had  been  no  abatement  of  the  horrible  conditions  which  Dr. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDEEATE  SURGEONS.  123 

Hopkins  had  pointed  out  and  which  might  easily  have  been  remedied. 
And  we  shall  see  that  these  conditions  were  not  improved  until  near 
the  time  when  the  prison  was  closed  and  comparatively  few  remained. 
Dr.  G.  L.  B.  Eice  was  on  duty  at  the  prison  from  August  1,  1864, 
until  about  the  middle  of  March,  1865.  He  testified  to  some  facts 
which  are  given  here,  relating  more  particularly  to  Wirz,  but  should 
be  remembered  when  the  conduct  of  Wirz  is  being  shown.  He  tes 
tified  i1 

I  was  on  duty  at  Andersonville  from  about  August  1,  1864,  until  March  10, 
1865,  I  think.  I  was  ordered  to  report  to  Dr.  White,  and  he  assigned  me  to  duty 
at  the  stockade  to  attend  the  sick  prisoners.  We  prescribed  outside  the  stockade; 
I  have  forgotten  the  length  of  time;  it  was  three  or  four  weeks,  more  or  less; 
after  that  I  was  sent  to  the  hospital;  a  few  days  after  I  got  there  I  was  ordered 
to  go  into  the  stockade  and  report  as  officer  of  the  day.  I  did  so,  and  I  found  the 
stockade  in  a  deplorable  condition.  I  saw  a  great  deal  of  suffering,  filth,  and 
everything  that  was  bad  and  unpleasant.  We  prescribed  by  formulas  or  numbers. 
I  commenced  prescribing  as  I  had  been  in  the  habit  of  doing  at  home;  but  I  was 
informed  that  I  would  not  be  allowed  to  do  that,  that  they  had  not  the  medicines. 
I  was  handed  a  list  of  the  medicines  that  we  had  to  use;  they  were  in  formulas 
and  numbers  from  one  up  to  a  certain  point. — I  have  forgotten  what;  we  had  to 
use  those;  it  was  a  new  thing  to  me;  I  was  not  accustomed  to  it,  and  my  opinion 
was  that  we  could  do  very  little  good  with  that  kind  of  prescription;  I  regarded 
that  as  a  very  unsafe  method  of  practice.  On  some  of  those  formulas  which  I 
had,  the  ingredients,  I  think,  were  put  down;  I  know  that  they  were  toward  the 
last;  I  did  not  analyze  any  of  those  potions  to  ascertain  whether  the  report  made 
on  the  label  was  true ;  I  had  to  take  their  word  for  it.  I  complained  of  that  method 
of  practice  among  the  surgeons.  I  asked  them  if  there  was  no  chance  to  do 
better.  They  said  there  was  not;  that  some  of  them  had  gone  to  the  chief  sur 
geon  and  complained,  and  they  said  there  was  no  other  chance,  and  I  concluded 
that  if  they  could  not  do  any  better,  I  could  do  no  better,  and  I  did  not  make  the 
attempt.  .  .  . 

I  knew  a  great  many  to  die  there  who  I  believe  died  from  hunger  and  starvation 
and  from  cold  and  exposure.  I  think  it  was  the  10th  of  March,  1865,  when  I  left 
the  prison.  The  rigors  of  the  prison  did  not  cease  or  lighten  during  the  winter; 
the  prisoners  were  exposed  more  or  less  all  that  time.  If  all  the  surgeons  had  been 
sent  away,  and  if  the  prisoners  had  got  the  vegetables  which  they  should  have  had, 
and  more  room,  a  great  many  more  men  could  have  been  saved.  They  needed 
the  right  kind  of  diet  more  than  medicine.  They  needed  also  additional  room. 
I  made  verbal  suggestions  to  Dr.  Stevenson  in  relation  to  the  wood  of  the  stockade 
— that  it  was  entirely  inadequate — and  the  great  necessity  for  having  a  larger 
supply  of  vegetables  for  the  stockade  and  hospital.  I  mentioned  to  him  one  day 
that  I  had  a  good  many  vegetables  at  home — more  than  we  needed — that  they 
were  rotting,  and  that  if  he  would  allow  me  to  go  home  for  a  few  days,  I  would 
bring  those  vegetables  down  for  the  prisoners  without  any  charge;  or  if  he  could 

1  Record,  p.  381  et  seq. 


124  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

not  do  that  he  could  send  some  man  to  get  them;  that  they  were  all  going  to 
waste  and  doing  nobody  any  good,  and  that,  if  they  were  brought  to  the  prison 
and  used  properly,  they  might  save  some  men's  lives.  He  observed  that  he  would 
like  to  have  them,  and  turned  off  and  said  no  more  about  it.  They  were  not  sent  for. 
Q.  Do  you  know  anything  about  the  investigation  of  the  conduct  of  Dr. 
Stevenson? 

A.  I  was  there  when  a  couple  of  surgeons  came  on.  He  was  tried  for  making 
away  with  the  money  that  was  sent  there  for  the  use  of  the  hospital,  so  I  heard. 
That  was  the  understanding.  There  was  an  investigation  had.  I  think  he  was 
found  guilty.  I  was  called  into  the  room  where  they  were  carrying  on  the  inves 
tigation,  and  was  asked  a  few  questions  by  the  committee.  I  do  not  know  the 
amount  of  money  Dr.  Stevenson  embezzled.  I  heard  it  was  from  $100,000  to 
$150,000.  I  don't  know  whether  it  was  so  or  not. 

I  saw  the  hounds  at  Andersonville  almost  every  day.  I  know  that  at  one  time 
when  I  was  living  in  a  little  tent  I  lost  my  pocket-book;  the  hounds  were  brought 
and  put  on  the  track;  that  was  a  few  days  after  I  got  there.  I  saw  them  there 
nearly  every  day  after  that.  I  one  day  saw  a  man  who  was  torn  by  them;  I 
forget  the  date;  I  have  no  idea  of  the  time.  He  was  knocked  up  very  badly.  His 
skin  was  not  torn,  but  you  could  see  the  blue  marks  of  the  prints  of  the  dogs' 
teeth.  I  happened  to  be  passing  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters  about  the  time 
they  brought  the  man  up,  and  I  asked  some  one  what  was  the  matter  with  him. 
He  could  hardly  walk,  and  seemed  to  be  bent  over  from  the  effects  of  scurvy,  I 
presumed.  I  soon  found  that  he  had  made  his  escape  the  night  previous,  and  had 
been  brought  in  by  this  man  who  had  the  dogs — had  been  caught  by  them.  I  saw 
the  marks  of  teeth  on  the  man's  flesh.  I  have  no  idea  what  month  that  was.  The 
man  was  nearly  naked;  he  had  nothing  on  but  a  shirt,  I  think.  They  told  me  that 
his  clothes  had  been  torn  off  by  the  dogs;  that  he  attempted  to  climb  a  tree  and 
that  the  dogs  pulled  him  down. 

I  saw  two  dead  bodies  there  during  the  time  I  was  there  on  duty — one  in  the 
stockade  and  one  in  the  hospital.  The  one  in  the  hospital  was  shot  through  the 
breast.  I  walked  in  there  one  morning  to  attend  to  my  duties,  and  I  heard  that  a 
man  had  been  shot  that  night  by  the  sentry.  I  walked  around  to  where  he  was 
and  inquired  of  some  prisoners  how  it  happened,  and  they  told  me  that  he  was  a 
poor  crippled  man,  (I  think  he  had  crutches  lying  by  him,)  who  had  walked  up 
near  the  paling  and  the  sentry  had  shot  him.  That  case  was  in  the  hospital.  I  saw 
the  other  in  the  stockade  near  the  south  gate.  I  do  not  know  how  the  entry  was 
made  in  those  cases  in  the  hospital  register. 

The  bad  condition  of  the  hospital  and  stockade  continued  all  the  time  until  I 
left,  which  was,  I  think,  the  10th  of  March,  1865.  I  saw  a  great  many  die  in  the 
hospital  from  starvation,  as  well  as  in  the  stockade.  I  don't  know  whether  Captain 
Wirz  had  anything  to  do  with  the  rations  in  the  hospital.  I  know  that  the  chief 
surgeon  had  something  to  do  with  the  rations.  I  did  not  speak  with  Dr.  Stevenson 
again  after  I  had  told  him  once  about  the  vegetables  at  my  house.  I  never  spoke 
of  that  matter  to  him  any  more.  I  frequently  spoke  to  him.  I  several  times  told 
him  about  other  things  that  they  needed — straw,  bunks,  etc.,  to  keep  them  from 
lying  on  the  ground. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDEEATE  SURGEONS.  125 

Dr.  John  C.  Bates  went  to  Andersonville  on  duty  in  September, 
1864,  and  remained  on  duty  until  the  latter  part  of  March,  1865. 
One  cannot  read  the  descriptions  given  by  this  witness  without  feelings 
of  infinite  pity  for  the  unhappy  creatures  whose  sufferings  he  por 
trays.  His  testimony  shows  conclusively  that  nothing  was  done  to 
improve  the  conditions,  notwithstanding  all  the  reports  that  had 
gone  forward  to  the  Richmond  authorities.  The  witnesses  whom  I 
am  now  quoting  speak  first  hand,  and  their  testimony  comes  to  us 
with  all  the  more  force  since  they  make  us  see  the  prison  in  all  its 
horror. 

Be  it  remembered,  too,  that  these  witnesses  were  in  the  rebel  service, 
and  that  nothing  but  the  sacredness  of  their  oaths  to  "testify  to  the 
truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth"  would  ever  have  impelled  them  to 
make  these  damning  disclosures. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.    JOHN   C.   BATES.1 

I  have  been  residing  for  the  past  four  or  five  years  in  the  State  of  Georgia.  I 
am  a  practitioner  of  medicine,  and  have  been  engaged  in  that  profession  since 
1850.  I  have  been  on  duty  at  the  Andersonville  Prison  as  acting  assistant  surgeon. 
I  was  assigned  there  on  the  19th  of  September,  1864;  reported  for  duty  on  the 
22d,  and  left  there  on  the  26th  of  March,  1865.  [A  paper  was  here  handed  to  wit 
ness.]  I  think  I  have  seen  that  before.  It  is  a  pass  given  me  by  Captain  Wirz 
to  enter  the  stockade.  [The  pass  was  then  put  in  evidence.]  I  was  ordered  by 
Medical  Director  Stout  to  report  to  I.  H.  or  J.  H.  White,  surgeon  in  charge.  He 
having  been  hurt  by  some  railroad  accident,  I  reported  to  Dr.  E.  E.  Stevenson. 

I  reported  to  Dr.  Stevenson,  who  assigned  me  to  the  third  division  of  the  military 
prison  hospital,  under  Dr.  Sheppard;  I  was  assigned  to  the  fifteenth  ward,  as  then 
designated. 

Upon  going  to  the  hospital  I  went  immediately  to  the  ward  to  which  I  was 
assigned,  and,  although  I  am  not  an  over-sensitive  man,  I  must  confess  I  was  rather 
shocked  at  the  appearance  of  things.  The  men  were  lying  partially  nude  and 
dying  and  lousy,  a  portion  of  them  in  the  sand  and  others  upon  boards  which  had 
been  stuck  up  on  little  props,  pretty  well  crowded  together,  a  majority  of  them  in 
small  tents,  looking  to  be  tents  that  were  not  very  serviceable  at  best.  I  went 
around  and  examined  all  that  were  placed  in  my  charge.  That  was  the  condition 
of  the  men.  By  and  by,  as  I  became  familiarized  with  the  condition  of  affairs,  the 
impressions  which  were  at  first  produced  upon  me  wore  off,  more  or  less.  I  be 
came  familiar  with  scenes  of  misery  and  they  did  not  affect  me  so  much.  I 
inquired  into  the  rations  of  the  men;  I  felt  disposed  to  do  my  duty;  and  after 
the  men  found  that  I  was  inclined  to  aid  them  so  far  as  I  could  in  my  sphere  of 
action,  they  frequently  asked  me  for  a  teaspoonful  of  salt,  or  an  order  for  a 
little  siftings  that  came  out  of  the  meal.  I  would  ask  them  what  they  wanted  the 
sif tings  for;  some  of  them  wished  them  to  make  some  bread.  I  would  inquire 

1  Record,  p.  27  et  seq. 


126  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

into  the  state  of  their  disease,  and  if  what  they  asked  for  would  injure  them,  I 
would  not  allow  them  to  have  it.  I  would  give  them  an  order  for  sifted  meal 
where  I  found  that  the  condition  of  the  patient  required  something  better  than 
siftings.  They  would  come  at  times  in  considerable  numbers  to  get  these  little 
orders  for  an  extra  ration,  or  if  not  a  ration,  whatever  portion  they  could  get.  I 
spent  a  considerable  portion  of  my  time  in  writing  orders,  and  I  did  it  very 
laconically.  I  had  three  words  that  constituted  a  bona  fide  order,  which  should  be 
respected  by  the  head  cook  or  baker.  We  commonly  called  him  Bob — his  name  was 
Allen;  he  was  from  Illinois.  The  order  would  read  in  this  way:  "Bob — meal — 
Bates."  If  any  more  words  were  attached  to  it,  it  was  not  a  genuine  order.  I 
used  that  discrimination  in  order  to  favor  the  sickest  of  them,  so  that  they 
might  get  what  they  could,  at  the  expense,  perhaps,  of  those  who  could  get  along 
better  without  it.  These  orders  were  constantly  applied  for,  and  I  would  sign  them 
till  my  patience  was  almost  worn  out.  The  meat  ration  was  cooked  at  a  different 
part  of  the  hospital;  and  when  I  would  go  up  there,  especially  when  I  was  medical 
officer  of  the  day,  the  men  would  gather  around  me  and  ask  me  for  a  bone.  I 
would  grant  their  requests  so  far  as  I  saw  bones.  I  would  give  them  whatever  I 
could  find  at  my  disposition  without  robbing  others.  I  well  knew  that  an  appro 
priation  of  one  ration  took  it  from  the  general  issue;  that  when  I  appropriated 
an  extra  ration  to  one  man,  some  one  else  would  fall  minus  upon  that  ration.  I 
then  fell  back  upon  the  distribution  of  bones.  They  did  not  presume  to  ask  me 
for  meat  at  all.  So  far  as  rations  are  concerned,  that  is  about  the  way  matters 
went  along  for  some  time  after  I  went  there. 

Clothing  we  had  none;  they  could  not  be  furnished  with  any  clothing,  except 
that  the  clothing  of  the  dead  was  generally  appropriated  to  the  living.  We  thus 
helped  the  living  along  as  well  as  we  could. 

Of  vermin  or  lice  there  was  a  very  prolific  crop  there.  I  got  to  understand 
practically  the  meaning  of  the  term  "lousy";  I  would  generally  find  some  upon 
myself  after  retiring  tb  my  quarters ;  they  were  so  numerous  that  it  was  impossible 
for  a  surgeon  to  enter  the  hospital  without  having  some  upon  him  when  he  came 
out,  if  he  touched  anybody  or  anything  save  the  ground,  and  very  often  if  he 
merely  stood  still  any  considerable  length  of  time  he  would  get  them  upon  him. 

When  I  went  to  the  hospital  I  found  the  men  destitute  of  clothing  and  bedding; 
there  was  a  partial  supply  of  fuel,  but  not  sufficient  to  keep  the  men  warm  and 
prolong  their  existence.  Shortly  after  I  arrived  there  I  was  appointed  officer  of 
the  day.  I  learned  that  the  officer  of  the  day  was  in  supreme  command  of  all  per 
taining  to  the  hospital,  and  that  it  was  my  duty  as  such  to  go  into  the  various 
wards  and  divisions  of  the  hospital  and  rectify  anything  that  needed  to  be  cared 
for.  In  visiting  the  hospital  I  made  a  pretty  thorough  examination.  As  a  general 
thing,  the  patients  were  destitute;  they  were  filthy  and  partly  naked.  There  seemed 
to  be  a  disposition  only  to  get  something  to  eat.  The  clamor  all  the  while  was  for 
something  to  eat.  They  asked  me  for  orders  for  this,  that,  and  the  other — peas 
or  rice,  or  salt,  or  beef  tea,  or  a  potato,  or  a  biscuit,  or  a  piece  of  corn  bread,  or 
siftings,  or  meal. 

Medicines  were  scarce;  we  could  not  get  what  we  wished.  We  drew  upon  the 
indigenous  remedies;  they  did  not  seem  to  answer.  We  gathered  up  large  quan 
tities  of  them,  but  very  few  served  for  medicines  as  we  wished.  We  wanted  the 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDEEATE  SUKGEONS.  127 

best  and  most  powerful  anti-scorbutics,  as  well  as  something  that  was  soothing 
and  healing,  especially  to  the  lining  membrane  of  the  alimentary  canal,  and  such 
things  as  were  calculated  to  counteract  a  dropsical  disposition  and  a  gangrenous 
infection.  Those  were  prominent  things  in  the  hospital.  We  had  not  at  all  times 
the  proper  remedies  to  administer,  and  the  indigenous  remedies  did  not  serve  us, 
and  could  not  serve  us  in  those  complaints.  We  were  obliged  to  do  the  best  we 
could. 

There  was  in  my  ward  a  boy  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  years,  in  whom  I  felt  a  par 
ticular  interest.  My  attention  was  more  immediately  called  to  him  from  his  youth, 
and  he  appealed  to  me  in  such  a  way  that  I  could  not  well  avoid  heeding  him.  He 
would  often  ask  me  to  bring  him  a  potato,  a  piece  of  bread,  a  biscuit,  or  something 
of  that  kind,  which  I  did;  I  would  put  them  in  my  pocket  and  give  them  to  him. 
I  would  sometimes  give  him  a  raw  potato,  and  as  he  had  the  scurvy,  and  also 
gangrene,  I  would  advise  him  not  to  cook  the  potato  at  all,  but  to  eat  it  raw,  as 
an  anti-scorbutic.  I  supplied  him  in  that  way  for  some  time,  but  I  could  not  give 
him  a  sufficiency.  He  became  bed-ridden  upon  the  hips  and  back,  lying  upon  the 
ground;  we  afterwards  got  him  some  straw.  Those  bed-ridden  sores  had  become 
gangrenous.  He  became  more  and  more  emaciated,  until  he  died.  The  lice,  the 
want  of  bed  and  bedding,  of  fuel  and  food,  were  the  cause  of  his  death. 

I  was  a  little  shy.  I  did  not  know  that  I  was  allowed  to  take  such  things  to 
the  patients;  and  I  had  been  so  often  arrested  that  I  thought  it  necessary  to  be  a 
little  shy  in  what  I  did,  and  keep  it  to  myself.  I  would  put  a  potato  in  my 
pocket  and  would  turn  around  and  let  it  drop  to  this  man  or  others.  I  did  not 
wish  to  be  observed  by  anybody.  When  I  first  went  there,  I  understood  that  it  was 
positively  against  the  orders  to  take  anything  in. 

I  can  speak  of  other  cases  among  the  patients;  two  or  three  others  in  my  ward 
were  in  the  same  condition;  and  there  were  others  who  came  to  their  death  from 
the  bad  condition  of  things  and  the  lack  of  necessary  supplies.  That  is  my  pro 
fessional  opinion. 

I  had  occasion  to  visit  the  entire  hospital  occasionally,  and  so  far  as  I  saw  its 
condition  was  generally  the  same  as  I  have  been  describing.  At  the  time  I  went 
there,  I  think,  from  the  best  observations  I  could  make,  there  were,  perhaps, 
2,000  or  2,500  sick  in  that  hospital. 

We  had  cases  of  chilblains  or  frost-bitten  feet.  Most  generally,  in  addition 
to  what  was  said  to  be  frost-bite,  there  was  gangrene.  I  did  not  see  the  sores 
in  the  original  chilblains.  I  do  not  think  I  can  say  if  there  were  any  amputations 
or  any  deaths  resulting  from  sufferings  of  that  character,  not  having  charged  my 
mind  as  to  whether  the  amputations  were  in  consequence  of  chilblains,  or  because, 
from  accidental  abrading  of  the  surface,  gangrene  set  in.  But  for  a  while  ampu 
tations  were  practiced  in  the  hospital  almost  daily,  arising  from  a  gangrenous 
and  scorbutic  condition,  which,  in  many  cases,  threatened  the  saturation  of  the 
whole  system  with  this  gangrenous  or  offensive  matter,  unless  the  limb  was  am 
putated.  In  cases  of  amputation  of  that  sort,  it  would  sometimes  became  neces 
sary  to  reamputate,  from  gangrene  taking  hold  of  the  stump  again.  Some  few 
successful  amputations  were  made.  I  recollect  two  or  three  which  were  successful. 
I  kept  no  statistics;  those  were  kept  by  the  prescription  clerks  and  forwarded  to 


128  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

headquarters.  I  did  not  think  at  the  time  that  the  surgeon-in-chief  did  all  in  his 
power  to  relieve  the  condition  of  those  men,  and  I  made  my  report  accordingly. 

In  visiting  the  wards  in  the  morning  I  would  find  persons  lying  dead;  sometimes 
I  would  find  them  lying  among  the  living.  I  recollect  on  one  occasion  telling  my 
steward  to  go  and  wake  up  a  certain  one,  and  when  I  went  myself  to  wake  him 
up  he  was  taking  his  everlasting  sleep.  That  occurred  in  another  man's  ward, 
when  I  was  officer  of  the  day.  Upon  several  occasions,  on  going  into  my  own 
wards,  I  found  men  whom  we  did  not  expect  to  die,  dead  from  the  sensation  of 
chilblains  produced  during  the  night.  This  was  in  the  hospital.  I  was  not  so  well 
acquainted  with  how  it  was  in  the  stockade.  I  judge,  though,  from  what  I  saw, 
that  numbers  suffered  in  the  same  way  there. 

The  effect  of  scurvy  upon  the  systems  of  the  men  as  it  developed  itself  there 
was  the  next  thing  to  rottenness.  Their  limbs  would  become  drawn  up.  It  would 
manifest  itself  constitutionally.  It  would  draw  them  up.  They  would  go  on 
crutches  sideways,  or  crawl  upon  their  hands  and  knees  or  on  their  haunches  and 
feet  as  well  as  they  could.  Some  could  not  eat  unless  it  was  something  that 
needed  no  mastication.  Sometimes  they  would  be  furnished  beef  tea  or  boiled  rice, 
or  such  things  as  that  would  be  given  them,  but  not  to  the  extent  which  I  would 
like  to  see.  In  some  cases  they  could  not  eat  corn  bread;  their  teeth  would  be 
loose  and  their  gums  all  bleeding.  I  have  known  cases  of  that  kind.  I  do  not 
speak  of  it  as  a  general  thing.  They  would  ask  me  to  interest  myself  and  get 
them  something  which  they  could  swallow  without  subjecting  them  to  so  much 
pain  in  mastication.  It  seemed  to  me  I  did  express  my  professional  opinion  that 
men  died  because  they  could  not  eat  the  rations  they  got. 

I  cannot  state  what  proportion  of  the  men  in  whose  cases  it  became  necessary 
to  amputate  from  gangrenous  wounds,  and  also  to  reamputate  from  the  same 
cause,  recovered.  Never  having  charged  my  mind  on  the  subject,  and  not  ex 
pecting  to  be  called  upon  in  such  a  capacity,  I  cannot  give  an  approximate  opinion 
which  I  would  deem  reliable.  In  1864,  amputations  from  that  cause  occurred  very 
frequently  indeed;  during  the  short  time  in  1865  that  I  was  there,  amputations 
were  not  frequent. 

I  cannot  state  with  any  certainty  the  proportion  of  prisoners  treated  in  the 
hospital  who  recovered  and  were  sent  back  to  the  stockade.  There  were  clerks 
appointed  to  keep  all  those  accounts,  and  I  tried  to  confine  myself  strictly  to  my 
own  duty,  and  did  not  interest  myself  in  any  statistical  enumeration  of  facts 
or  data. 

The  prisoners  in  the  stockade  and  the  hospital  were  not  very  well  protected  from 
the  rain ;  only  by  their  own  meager  means,  their  blankets,  holes  in  the  earth,  and 
such  things.  In  the  spring  of  1865,  when  I  was  in  the  stockade,  I  saw  a  shed  thirty 
feet  wide  and  sixty  feet  long — the  sick  principally  were  in  that.  They  were  in 
about  the  same  condition  as  those  in  the  hospital.  As  to  the  prisoners  generally, 
their  only  means  of  shelter  from  the  sun  and  rain  were  their  blankets,  if  they 
carried  any  along  with  them.  I  regarded  that  lack  of  shelter  as  a  source  of 
disease. 

Eice,  peas,  and  potatoes  were  the  common  issue  from  the  Confederate  govern 
ment;  but  as  to  turnips,  carrots,  tomatoes,  and  cabbage,  of  that  class  of  vege 
tables,  I  never  saw  any.  There  was  no  green  corn  issued.  Western  Georgia  is 
generally  considered  a  pretty  good  corn-growing  country. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDERATE  SUKGEONS.  129 

[Mr.  Baker  objected  to  the  line  of  examination  that  was  being  pursued  by 
the  judge-advocate,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  taking  too  wide  a  range,  and  that 
the  evidence  elicited  was  not  connected  in  any  way  with  the  defendant.  The 
court,  after  deliberation,  overruled  the  objection.  The  witness  resumed.] 

Green  corn  could  have  been  used  as  an  anti-scorbutie  and  as  an  antidote.  A 
vegetable  diet,  so  far  as  it  contains  any  alterative  or  medical  qualities,  serves  as 
an  anti-scorbutic. 

The  ration  issued  to  the  patients  in  the  hospital  was  corn  meal,  beef,  bacon — 
pork  occasionally  but  not  much  of  it ;  at  times,  green  corn,  peas,  rice,  salt,  sugar, 
and  potatoes.  I  enumerate  those  as  the  varieties  served  out.  Potatoes  were  not  a 
constant  ration;  at  times  they  were  sent  in,  perhaps  a  week  or  two  weeks  at  a 
time,  and  then  they  would  drop  off.  The  daily  ration  was  less  from  the  time  I 
went  there  in  September,  through  October,  November,  and  December,  than  it  was 
from  January  till  March  26th,  the  time  I  left.  I  never  made  a  calculation  as  to  the 
number  of  rations  intended  for  each  man ;  I  was  never  called  to  do  that.  So  far  as 
I  saw,  I  believe  I  would  feel  safe  in  saying  that,  while  there  might  have  been 
less,  the  amount  was  not  over  twenty  ounces  for  twenty-four  hours. 

From  January  to  March  the  rations  were  better  than  they  had  been  before.  The 
surgeon  of  the  post  had  been  changed.  Dr.  Stevenson  was  superseded  by  Dr. 
Clayton,  who,  I  thought,  interested  himself  very  much  to  relieve  the  sufferings 
of  the  prisoners  there.  While  Dr.  Stevenson  was  director  of  the  hospital,  I  never 
saw  much  interest  manifested  on  his  part  to  relieve  the  necessities  of  the  prisoners. 

Q.  What  number  of  ounces  of  healthy  nutritious  food  is  necessary  to  support  life 
and  health? 

A.  Upon  one  unvaried  diet,  confining  a  man  to  any  one  article  or  any  one  set 
of  articles  for  a  length  of  time,  I  do  not  know  but  that  a  man  would  starve  to 
death  upon  plenty.  That  is  a  physiological  question.  The  various  secretions  of 
the  system  demand  a  multifarious  diet  for  the  proper  feeding  of  the  system.  If 
you  were  to  confine  a  man  to  a  single  article  of  diet  or  four  or  five  articles  of 
diet  for  one  year,  I  am  inclined  to  say  that  he  could  not  live.  It  is  a  nice 
physiological  point.  The  monotonous  diet  issued  from  September  till  January, 
which  continued  afterward,  though  in  larger  quantities,  was  such  as  the  men, 
without  varying  it,  could  not  have  lived  upon  without  very  bad  effects,  upon  the 
nervous  system  especially.  These  are  physiological  points  which  I  did  not  expect 
to  be  asked  about.  The  diet  was  monotonous,  consisting  of  corn  meal,  peas  of  not 
very  good  quality,  sometimes  sweet  potatoes,  sometimes  tolerably  good  beef,  at 
other  times  not  so;  sometimes  good  bacon,  at  other  times  raw  bacon,  which  was 
not  good.  It  is  my  opinion  that  men  starved  to  death  in  consequence  of  the 
paucity  of  the  rations,  especially  in  the  fall  of  1864,  the  quality  not  being  very 
good  and  the  quantity  deficient. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  examine  the  question  sufficiently  to  state  the  number  of  ounces 
of  nutritious  food  necessary  to  sustain  life  and  health? 

A.  I  had  a  little  discussion  with  Dr.  Clayton  upon  that.  It  was  after  the  first 
of  January  when  he  took  charge.  I  was  ordered  to  make  a  particular  and  especial 
report  of  every  article  that  was  issued,  taking  the  number  of  patients  then  in  the 
hospital  and  the  attendants.  I  went  to  the  commissary  myself,  and  saw  the 
provisions  loaded  up,  carried  in,  and  weighed.  I  took  those  figures  and  the 


130  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

figures  of  the  attendants  in  the  hospital.  The  calculations  which  I  made  there 
were  that  sixteen  ounces  of  meal  would  make  twenty-eight  ounces  of  bread,  and 
sixteen  ounces  of  flour  would  make  twenty-two  ounces  of  bread.  I  gave  the 
prisoners  in  that  calculation  the  benefit  of  the  increase.  In  reference  to  the  meat, 
I  did  not  make  any  calculation  for  the  bones,  because  they  were  generally  dis 
posed  of  by  the  prisoners,  who  were  glad  to  get  them.  By  the  first  definite  calcu 
lation  which  I  made,  the  patients  received  thirty-two  and  some  tenths  ounces,  and 
the  attendants  received  thirty  or  thirty-one  ounces.  This  was  after  Dr.  Clayton  got 
charge.  These  facts  were  stated  in  my  first  report  to  him.  Six  days  afterward  I 
was  called  upon  to  make  a  similar  report,  and  I  think  then  the  attendants  got 
thirty-two  ounces,  and  the  patients  got  twenty-eight  ounces  of  this  monotonous 
food.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  how  long  life  could  be  sustained  upon  a  monot 
onous  diet. 

Q.    Did  you  think  that  the  food  served  out  was  sufficient  in  quantity? 

A.  After  January,  1865,  the  quantity  was  sufficient  if  it  could  have  been  varied. 
Dr.  Clayton  and  myself  concluded  that  thirty  to  thirty-three  ounces  for  the  sick 
was  a  sufficiency  at  that  time.  Many  of  the  sick  did  not  consume  all  that  was 
issued  to  them,  but  appropriated  it  otherwise.  There  was  great  trading  and 
bargaining  going  on  all  the  time.  I  know  that  the  patients  in  the  hospital  greatly 
improved  after  the  change  of  administration  from  Dr.  Stevenson  to  Dr.  Clayton. 
I  know  that  they  got  more  provisions  and  were  better  cared  for.  I  never  made  a 
report  to  Dr.  Clayton  as  medical  officer  of  the  day  but  he  heeded  every  point,  and 
when  I  pointed  out  any  deficiency  he  would  ask  me  to  interest  myself  personally 
and  remedy  it,  and  he  would  do  anything  that  could  be  done. 

Q.    Was  that  the  fact  before  Dr.  Clayton  took  charge? 

A.    I  cannot  say  that  it  was. 

Art  altercation  took  place  there  between  Dr.  James  and  Captain  Wirz.  Upon 
going  into  the  hospital  one  morning  I  learned  my  chief  clerk  was  arrested,  and 
had  been  ordered  to  be  bucked  and  gagged;  I  did  not  see  him  gagged;  I  saw  him 
bucked;  he  was  sitting  outside  of  the  gate  of  the  hospital.  Upon  inquiry,  I  found 
that  he  had  by  some  means  or  other  neglected  to  report  a  man  that  was  missing; 
and  it  was  a  question  whether  the  duty  of  reporting  this  man  belonged  to  the 
Confederate  sergeant,  whose  duty  it  was  to  call  the  roll  of  the  sick,  or  to  this  clerk, 
Dr.  James  wrote  a  letter  to  Captain  Wirz,  or  some  other  man;  I  saw  that  letter; 
Dr.  James  read  it  to  me.  I  am  not  positive  as  to  whom  it  was  addressed  to ;  but  he 
spoke  of  Captain  Wirz's  tyranny  in  the  punishment  of  this  man,  as  he  was  very 
faithful  in  doing  his  duty.  Dr.  James  rather  felt  outraged  at  the  manner  in  which 
the  man  had  been  treated,  and  he  made  a  demurrer. 

Q.    Describe  what  kind  of  exhalations  or  odors  arose  from  that  prison. 

A.  There  are  two  kinds  of  miasma  laid  down  by  medical  writers:  the  Tcino  and 
the  ideo;  one  consists  of  exhalations  from  the  human  body  in  a  state  of  disease, 
and  the  other  of  exhalations  from  vegetable  decompositions  and  saturations  gen 
erally.  There  were  both  kinds  there.  The  miasmatic  effluvia  emanating  from  the 
hospital  was  very  potent  and  offensive  indeed. 

Q.    In  what  way  would  it  affect  the  healthy? 

A.  If  I  had  a  scratch  upon  my  hand — if  the  skin  was  broken  or  abraded  in  the 
least — I  did  not  venture  to  go  into  the  hospital  without  protecting  it  with  adhesive 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDERATE  SUEGEONS.  131 

plaster.  I  saw  several  sores  originating  from  the  infection  of  the  gangrenous 
effluvia  saturating  the  atmosphere.  For  this  reason  we  were  all  very  cautious.  If 
a  prisoner  whose  system  was  reduced  by  inanition,  which  would  invite  and  develop 
disease,  should  chance  to  stump  his  toe  (some  of  them  were  barefooted)  or  scratch 
his  hand,  almost  invariably  the  next  report  to  me,  so  far  as  my  charge  was  con 
cerned,  was  gangrene,  so  potent  was  the  influence. 

Immediately  upon  the  west  side  of  the  stockade,  and  between  there  and  the 
depot,  there  was  timber  scattered ;  on  the  north  side,  beyond  the  cook-house  a  little, 
there  was  plenty  of  timber;  on  the  south  side  plenty  had  been  cut  in  logs  and  lay 
there,  and  down  by  the  hospital  there  was  plenty.  That  is  a  woody  country,  and 
there  was  plenty  of  wood  within  a  mile.  It  was  fine  timber,  and  could  have  been 
made  into  shingles  or  clapboards.  I  did  not  see  any  of  it  used  to  make  shelter  for 
the  prisoners.  A  set  of  sheds  were  being  erected  there,  as  represented  on  the 
diagram,  outside  of  the  stockade  and  the  hospital.  They  were  in  course  of  erection 
at  the  time  of  the  abandonment  of  the  place.  No  patients  had  ever  been  put  in 
them.  I  regret  to  say  that  the  supply  of  wood  was  not  sufficient  to  keep  the 
prisoners  from  what  we  term  freezing  to  death.  They  would  not,  perhaps,  actually 
freeze  to  death,  but  a  patient  whose  blood  is  thin,  and  his  system  worn  down,  is 
very  susceptible  to  the  influence  of  cold.  In  the  absence  of  sufficient  food,  sufficient 
stimulus,  and  especially  in  the  absence  of  fuel,  many  of  the  patients  (I  speak  now 
of  what  I  saw  in  my  own  ward)  would,  during  the  night,  become  so  chilled  that  in 
the  morning,  passing  round,  I  would  remark  to  my  steward,  "Last  night  did  the 
work  for  that  poor  fellow;  he  will  die";  or,  "This  one  will  die;  I  cannot  resus 
citate  him  with  the  means  in  my  hands,  his  system  is  so  reduced."  Lying  upon  the 
ground  during  those  chilly  nights,  (the  weather  was  not  freezing,  but  sufficient  to 
thoroughly  chill  the  whole  system,)  the  patient  would  reach  a  condition  in  which 
resuscitation  was  a  matter  of  impossibility  after  he  commenced  going  downhill 
from  this  exposure.  I  have  seen  a  number  die  in  that  way. 

In  my  judgment  there  was  sufficient  timber  growing  in  the  vicinity  to  supply 
fuel  for  cooking  and  for  keeping  the  prisoners  warm,  and  also  to  furnish  shelter 
for  them.  I  frequently  made  observation  while  there,  that  there  was  plenty  of 
wood  to  supply  every  demand — shingles,  boards,  logs  to  make  huts,  and  plenty 
for  fuel.  That  is  a  woody  country ;  the  wood  is  pine  wood.  I  judged  that  it 
could  be  made  into  boards  and  rails  from  the  fact  that  they  were  pretty  plenty 
there,  and  from  the  fact  that  I  saw  the  boys  splitting  boards  for  the  new  hospital 
shed  that  was  going  up.  There  was  no  deficiency  of  wood. 

[A  diagram  was  exhibited  to  witness.] 

I  have  seen  that  before;  it  was  given  to  me  in  the  Andersonville  Prison  by 
Felix  De  La  Baume.  The  tents,  chimneys,  fence,  trees,  cart  and  mule,  etc.,  are 
correct.  One  sketch  here  of  "Dr.  Bates"  is  pretty  good,  but  rather  spindle-shanked. 
The  great  point  in  which  it  is  not  facsimile  is  that  too  few  men  are  represented. 
If  there  were  forty  delineated  where  there  is  one  it  would  be  more  correct.  These 
men  walking  on  their  hands  and  knees  and  on  crutches,  some  carrying  their  tin  cups 
in  their  mouths,  represent  men  who  could  not  go  there  otherwise.  They  were 
afflicted  with  scurvy  as  a  general  thing.  One  man  represented  here  I  recognize  as 
a  man  named  Ison,  who  was  a  subject  of  dementia;  he  only  crept  along  on  his 
haunches  and  feet.  I  recognize  several  others  whose  names  I  never  learned,  but 


132  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

whom  I  frequently  saw.  That  man  with  the  bucket  in  his  mouth,  I  frequently  saw 
crawling  up  for  his  rations.  I  see  one  man  here  representing  "Dr.  Bates  examining 
the  character  and  quantity  of  the  beef,"  together  with  the  Confederate  surgeon  and 
Ed.  Young,  boss  of  that  cook-house.  I  also  see  one  figure  representing  "Dr.  Bates 
giving  beef -bones  to  the  cripples."  It  was  my  prerogative  as  officer  of  the  day  to 
supervise  the  cooking  and  administration  of  the  rations,  and  to  attend  to  anything 
that  generally  belonged  to  the  hospital.  When  rations  were  being  issued  I  would 
frequently  go  there.  Those  detailed  to  cut  up  the  meat  would  put  the  bones  in  one 
pile  and  count  the  rations  and  put  them  carefully  in  another.  When  I  would  go 
there  from  twenty  to  one  hundred  or  more  would  ask  me,  some  of  them  very  im 
ploringly,  for  a  bone.  I  would  say,  "Yes,  you  can  have  all  the  bones."  I  see  that 
I  am  represented  here  as  handing  bones  to  those  cripples.  I  would  hand  them  out 
as  here  represented.  The  general  representation  in  this  diagram  is  about  correct, 
save  that  there  were  twenty  or  forty  men  to  one  represented  here.  They  were  very 
thick  about  the  cook-house. 

[Diagram  was  then  put  in  evidence.]! 

On  entering  the  stockade,  I  would  find  dead  prisoners.  They  were  generally  laid 
up  at  the  gate  under  some  sheds  or  boughs  constituting  a  dead-house.  They  were 
first  brought  out  to  the  gate  and  laid  just  inside  of  the  inner  stockade;  they  were 
then  carried  on  litters  to  the  inside  of  the  outer  stockade,  and  from  there  they 
were  hauled  away  in  wagons — sometimes  two-horse,  sometimes  four-horse  wagons. 
They  were  laid  in  the  wagons.  They  were  laid  in  the  wagon,  I  believe,  head  fore 
most,  one  on  another,  regularly  along  in  layers.  I  do  not  know  how  they  were 
buried. 

The  dead-house  of  the  hospital  was  in  the  southwest  corner.  When  I  first  went 
there,  what  was  called  a  dead-house  consisted  of  some  boards  put  up  into  a  kind  of 
shed.  These  boards  were  used  by  the  inmates  of  the  hospital  or  somehow  else;  at 
any  rate,  they  disappeared.  For  some  time  the  dead  were  laid  there  without  any 
shelter.  Every  time  I  came  on  duty  as  officer  of  the  day,  which  was  every  six 
days,  I  reported  that  there  was  no  dead-house,  and  called  the  attention  of  the 
authorities  to  the  erection  of  a  dead-house  or  some  place  to  deposit  the  dead,  not 
to  let  them  lie  without  shelter  and  exposed  to  the  sun.  This  was  in  the  hospital. 
They  did  not  allow  the  corpse  to  lie  long  enough  to  cause  any  exhalations  from 
putrefaction.  Outside  they  were  hauled  off  immediately  to  the  graveyard;  at 
least  I  saw  them  hauled  away — I  never  visited  the  graveyard. 

We  needed  a  dead-house,  so  as  to  have  some  place  to  lay  the  corpses  decently. 
At  one  time  we  got  a  tent  erected  for  a  dead-house,  but  that  did  not  last  very 
long.  Every  morning  when  I  would  go  in  I  would  find  a  blanket  or  a  quilt 
sliced  off.  The  men  would  appropriate  them  to  wrap  themselves  up.  At  first 
the  top  commenced  going,  and  in  a  few  days  all  was  gone.  I  remarked  that 
it  was  no  use  to  erect  such  dead-houses  as  that,  except  to  supply  the  men  with 
blankets,  though  I  had  no  objection  to  their  being  erected  every  night,  if  the 
men  could  thereby  get  blankets.  If  my  memory  serves  me  right,  no  more  dead- 
houses  were  erected.  I  think  that  tent  I  managed  to  get  erected  was  the  last. 

1  This  sketch  and  many  other  exhibits  originally  in  the  record  have  disappeared.  I  caused 
a  search  to  be  made  for  them,  but  none  can  be  found. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDERATE  SURGEONS.  133 

The  morning  after  making  my  first  tour  as  officer  of  the  day,  I  sat  down  and 
made  a  report,  the  language  of  which  I  do  not  now  recollect,  but  the  substance 
was  based  upon  the  condition  in  which  I  found  the  hospital.  That  report  was 
sent  up,  and  I  being  a  novice  in  military  matters,  for  some  things  which  I  had 
Baid  in  that  report  I  received  a  written  reprimand,  signed  "R.  R.  Stevenson, 
by  Dr.  Diller,"  his  assistant  in  the  office.  The  date  of  that  report  was  about 
the  24th  or  25th  of  September,  two  or  three  days  after  I  reported.  I  continued 
to  make  those  reports,  but  I  think  they  were  not  heeded. 

Meetings  of  the  surgeons  were  held  to  see  whether  these  things  could  not  be 
remedied.  Petitions  were  written  and  partially  signed,  and  were  then  destroyed 
for  want  of  a  proper  channel  by  which  to  send  them  up,  or  some  other  objection. 
Finally  there  was  a  report  made  to  the  medical  department ;  it  was  to  be  sent 
to  Surgeon-General  Moore  or  the  secretary  of  war;  I  am  not  certain  which.  Dr. 
Eiland,  Dr.  McVey  and  some  other  doctors  there  signed  it.  It  was  not  sent,  as 
I  understood.  These  things  were  talked  of,  and  the  result  was  a  medical  inves 
tigation  was  ordered  to  be  made  by  Dr.  Llewellyn  and  Dr.  Guillot.  They  were 
to  inquire  how  the  hospital  fund  had  been  used — the  hospital  fund  that  was 
appropriated  for  the  Union  prisoners.  During  the  course  of  this  investigation 
medical  gentlemen  were  called  upon  the  stand,  myself  among  the  rest,  and  the 
account  current  of  the  hospital  was  examined  by  these  two  medical  gentlemen, 
who  were  inspectors  under  orders  from  the  secretary  of  war.  This  was  after 
Dr.  Stevenson  left;  he  was  ordered,  I  think,  to  Florence.  I  never  saw  any 
official  opinion  or  report  emanating  from  Dr.  Guillot  or  Dr.  Llewellyn. 

[A  paper  was  exhibited  to  witness.] 

Q.     Do  you  recognize  the  handwriting  in  that  document? 

A.  It  was  written  before  I  went  to  the  Andersonville  Prison,  but  I  recognize 
it  as  the  handwriting  of  Dr.  Pelot,  so  far  as  I  recollect  his  handwriting.  I 
frequently  saw  him  write;  we  made  our  morning  report  together. 

Q.     Were  you  familiar  with  his  handwriting? 

A.     Tolerably  so. 

[The  paper  purporting  to  be  a  morning  report,  made  by  Dr.  Pelot  as  medical 
officer  of  the  day,  was  offered  in  evidence.  Mr.  Baker  objected  to  its  admission, 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  not  in  any  way  connected  with  the  prisoner.  The  court, 
after  deliberation,  overruled  the  objection.  The  following  report  was  then  put 
in  evidence:] 

FIRST  DIVISION,   C.   S.  M.  P.   HOSPITAL, 

September  5,  1864. 

SIR:  As  officer  of  the  day,  for  the  past  twenty-four  hours,  I  have  inspected 
the  hospital  and  found  it  in  as  good  condition  as  the  nature  of  the  circumstances 
will  allow.  A  majority  of  the  bunks  are  still  unsupplied  with  bedding,  while 
in  a  portion  of  the  division  the  tents  are  entirely  destitute  of  either  bunks, 
bedding  or  straw,  the  patients  being  compelled  to  lie  upon  the  bare  ground.  I 
would  earnestly  call  attention  to  the  article  of  diet.  The  corn  bread  received 
from  the  bakery  being  made  up  without  sifting,  is  wholly  unfit  for  the  use  of 
the  sick;  and  often  (in  the  last  twenty-four  hours)  upon  examination,  the  .inner 
portion  is  found  to  be  perfectly  raw.  The  meat  (beef)  received  by  the  patients 
does  not  amount  to  over  two  ounces  a  day,  and  for  the  past  three  or  four  days 
no  flour  has  been  issued.  The  corn  bread  cannot  be  eaten  by  many,  for  to  do 
so  would  be  to  increase  the  diseases  of  the  bowels,  from  which  a  large  majority 
are  suffering,  and  it  is  therefore  thrown  away.  All  their  rations  received  by 


134  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

way  of  sustenance  is  two  ounces  of  boiled  beef  and  half  pint  of  rice  soup  per 
day.  Under  these  circumstances,  all  the  skill  that  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon 
their  cases  by  the  medical  officer  will  avail  nothing.  Another  point  to  which 
I  feel  it  my  duty  to  call  your  attention  is  the  deficiency  of  medicines.  We 
have  but  little  more  than  indigenous  barks  and  roots  with  which  to  treat  the 
numerous  forms  of  disease  to  which  our  attention  is  daily  called.  For  the 
treatment  of  wounds,  ulcers,  &c.,  we  have  literally  nothing  except  water. 

Our  wards — some  of  them — are  filled  with  gangrene,  and  we  are  compelled 
to  fold  our  arms  and  look  quietly  upon  its  ravages,  not  even  having  stimulants 
to  support  the  system  under  its  depressing  influences,  this  article  being  so 
limited  in  supply  that  it  can  only  be  issued  for  cases  under  the  knife.  I  would 
respectfully  call  your  earnest  attention  to  the  above  facts,  in  the  hope  that 
something  may  be  done  to  alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  sick. 

I  am,  sir,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

J.  CREWS  PELOT, 
Assistant  Surgeon  C.  S.  and  .Officer  of  the  Day. 

Surgeon  E.  D.  EILAND, 

In  charge  First  Division  C.  S.  M.  P.  Hospital. 

Q.  What  effect  had  the  treatment  you  have  described  upon  the  mental  con 
dition  and  moral  sensibilities  of  the  prisoners? 

A.  There  was  among  them  generally  an  enervation  of  the  nervous  system, 
which  ran  down  in  consequence  of  this  scarcity  of  supplies.  The  nervous 
system  must  of  course  sink  under  such  pressure.  I  have  seen  the  effect  manifested 
in  idiocy,  dementia,  and  other  mental  weaknesses.  I  have  seen  several  instances 
of  that;  not  a  great  many;  four  or  five,  perhaps,  came  under  my  immediate 
observation.  Morally,  I  would  have  expected  that  such  abject  circumstances 
would  have  produced  deep  humiliation  and  resignation,  but  the  effect  was  other 
wise.  The  moral  feeling  of  the  prisoners  gradually  evaporated.  Instead  of 
having  a  healthy  influence  upon  their  morals,  it  had  a  contrary  effect.  Men 
seemed  to  abandon  themselves.  It  seemed  to  me  at  times  that  no  man  interested 
himself  further  than  "I";  a  well  man  would  sometimes  steal  from  a  sick  man; 
and  if  a  sick  man  could  steal  anything  from  a  well  man,  or  anybody  else,  he 
would  do  so.  It  seemed  to  me  that  all  lived  for  themselves,  having  no  regard 
for  anybody  else.  I  judged  this  to  be  superinduced  by  the  paucity  of  the  rations 
— the  starving  condition  of  the  men. 

Q.  From  your  observation  of  the  condition  and  surroundings  of  our  prisoners — 
their  food,  their  drink,  their  exposure  by  day  and  by  night,  and  all  the  circum 
stances  you  have  described — state  your  professional  opinion  as  to  what  propor 
tion  of  deaths  occurring  there  were  the  result  of  the  circumstances  and  surround 
ings  which  you  have  narrated. 

A.  I  feel  myself  safe  in  saying  that  seventy-five  per  cent  of  those  who  died 
might  have  been  saved,  had  those  unfortunate  men  been  properly  cared  for  as 
to  food,  clothing,  bedding,  etc. 

Andersonville  is  nothing  more  than  a  railroad  station.  There  were  but  a  few 
houses  there  until  the  military  shanties  were  put  up.  There  were  commissary 
stores  there.  There  was  one  private  store  there;  I  think  a  dry-goods  store.  There 
was  no  grocery  store  while  I  was  there.  The  prisoners  could  not  obtain  anything 
for  their  comfort  or  convenience  without  going  into  the  country  and  foraging. 
They  were  not  allowed  to  do  that.  Some  of  the  paroled  men  used  to  do  it, 
sometimes. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDEKATE  SURGEONS.  135 

I  have  quoted  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Bates  at  some  length  because 
it  sets  forth  the  phases  of  prison  life  at  Andersonville  in  a  way  to 
bring  home  to  the  reader  the  reality  of  the  struggle  for  existence 
which  the  prisoners  were  compelled  to  undergo,  and  fully  explains 
why  the  mortality  was  unprecedented.  We  need  have  no  hesitation 
in  believing  him  when  he  says  that  "seventy-five  per  cent  of  those 
who  died  might  have  been  saved,  had  those  unfortunate  men  been 
properly  cared  for  as  to  food,  clothing,  bedding,  etc." 

Do  the  apologists  for  Wirz  and  his  co-conspirators  think  that  the 
American  people  will  ever  become  reconciled  to  the  erection  of  a 
monument  to  Wirz  whose  only  claim  for  such  honor  is  the  record  of 
the  charnel-house  of  Andersonville?  Is  it  reasonable  to  ask  the  sur 
viving  Union  soldiers  and  their  friends  and  sympathizers  to  remain 
silent  in  the  face  of  the  gravely  untrue  inscriptions  placed  upon  the 
Wirz  monument? 

Dr.  G.  G.  Roy  was  assigned  to  duty  at  the  prison  on  September 
1,  1864,  and  remained  until  the  last  of  April,  1865.  Of  the  prisoners 
in  the  stockade  he  said :  "They  presented  the  most  horrible  spectacle 
of  humanity  that  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  A  good  many  were  suffer 
ing  from  scurvy  and  other  diseases ;  a  good  many  were  naked ;  a  large 
majority  were  barefooted ;  a  good  many  without  hats ;  their  condition 
generally  was  almost  indescribable."  But  let  the  record  speak  of 
what  he  saw:1 

TESTIMONY  OF   DR.    G.   G.   BOY. 

I  was  on  duty  at  Andersonville ;  I  was  ordered  to  report  there  for  duty  on 
the  first  of  September,  1864,  by  the  medical  director  of  the  army  of  Tennessee, 
Dr.  Stout ;  I  mean  the  rebel  army. 

Surgeon  Isaiah  H.  White  was  chief  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  post  at  Ander 
sonville  when  I  went  there;  I  do  not  know  that  there  was  any  one  particularly 
who  was  the  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  medical  department  of  the  stockade;  so 
far  as  the  chief  surgeons  were  concerned,  there  were  two  there;  Surgeon  White 
acted  as  post  surgeon,  and  confined  himself  to  the  administrative  duties  of  the 
post;  Dr.  Stevenson  was  acting  as  chief  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  hospital,  and 
of  the  medical  department  of  the  stockade;  when  I  got  there  I  found  the  hos 
pital  in  a  very  deplorable  condition;  it  was  composed  of  tents  of  all  sizes;  I 
cannot  say  that  it  was  laid  off  with  any  particular  regularity;  there  was  no 
comfort  attached  to  it  whatever;  many  of  the  tents  were  badly  worn,  torn  and 
rotten,  and  of  course  permitted  the  water  to  leak  through;  the  patients  were  not 
furnished  with  bunks  or  bedding,  or  bedclothing,  or  anything  of  that  sort; 
when  I  reported  for  duty  I  was  under  the  immediate  charge  of  Dr.  Stevenson; 
I  was  sent  to  Andersonville  under  peculiar  circumstances,  under  positive  orders 
to  Dr.  White  to  have  organized  a  division,  and  for  six  days  I  was  not  put  on 

1  Record,  p.  91  et  seq. 


136  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

duty,  because  it  took  about  that  time  to  organize  a  division  out  of  the  divisions 
that  were  there,  which  were  then  three  in  number;  I  then  took  charge  of  the 
fourth  division,  the  last  that  was  formed;  there  were  very  few  cases  of  gangrene 
coming  under  my  treatment  while  I  was  there;  I  got  there  after  most  of  the 
surgery  had  been  done,  consequently  there  were  very  few  cases  of  gangrene; 
we  never  got  vegetables  sufficient  while  I  was  there;  my  duty  was  to  make 
requisitions  on  the  chief  surgeon,  as  he  was  called,  Dr.  Stevenson;  I  did  so  and 
failed  to  get  them;  after  Dr.  Clayton  took  charge  of  the  hospital  we  had  fewer 
patients,  and  were  pretty  well  supplied  with  food  and  medicine;  I  think  that 
would  be  the  decision  of  every  prisoner  that  was  there. 

I  was  told  that  there  were  from  30,000  to  35,000  prisoners  in  the  stockade 
when  I  went  on  duty  at  Andersonville.  They  presented  the  most  horrible  spec 
tacle  of  humanity  that  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  A  good  many  were  suffering  from 
scurvy  and  other  diseases;  a  good  many  were  naked;  a  large  majority  bare 
footed;  a  good  many  without  hats.  Their  condition  generally  was  almost  in 
describable.  I  attributed  that  condition  to  long  confinement  and  the  want  of 
the  necessaries  and  comforts  of  life,  and  all  those  causes  that  are  calculated  to 
produce  that  condition  of  the  system  where  there  is  just  vitality  enough  to  per 
mit  one  to  live.  In  the  first  place,  at  Andersonville,  the  prisoners  were  too 
densely  crowded.  In  the  next  place  there  was  no  shelter,  except  such  as  they 
constructed  themselves,  which  was  very  insufficient.  A  good  many  were  in  holes 
in  the  earth  with  their  blankets  thrown  over  them ;  a  good  many  had  a  blanket 
or  oilcloth  thrown  over  poles;  some  were  in  tents  constructed  by  their  own  in 
genuity,  and  with  just  such  accommodations  as  their  own  ingenuity  permitted 
them  to  contrive. 

Q.  Who  had  control  of  the  hospital  so  far  as  its  discipline  was  concerned? 
Who  had  command  of  the  guards  stationed  about  it? 

A.  There  was  always  a  sergeant  at  the  gate  who  was  under  the  control  of 
Captain  Wirz. 

Q.  Had  Captain  Wirz  any  command  over  you  surgeons,  other  than  that  of 
stationing  the  guards  about  you  and  giving  you  passes  to  the  hospital? 

A.  Under  his  orders,  which  I  had  occasion  to  see  once,  I  think  his  power  was 
almost  absolute. 

[Mr.  Baker  objected  to  witness  stating  the  contents  of  the  orders.] 

Q.  Had  Captain  Wirz  other  command  over  you  than  that  of  allowing  you  to 
go  back  and  forth  to  the  hospital  on  his  passes?  Had  he  control  over  the  admin 
istration  of  your  duties? 

A.     He  did  not  exercise  that  control,  but  his  orders  gave  him  such  power. 

[Mr.  Baker  objected  to  witness  stating  anything  contained  in  the  orders.  The 
court,  after  deliberation,  sustained  the  objection.] 

Q.  Did  the  prisoner  ever  state  to  you  that  he  had  command  over  your  action 
in  the  administration  of  your  duties? 

A.     He  did. 

Q.     State  the  circumstances. 

A.  At  one  time,  in  consequence  of  a  difficulty  between  one  of  my  assistants 
and  Captain  Wirz,  we  had  occasion  to  call  for  these  orders  and  the  orders  were 
presented;  Assistant  Surgeon  Dr.  James  had  written  a  communication  to  me 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDEKATE  SUKGEONS.  137 

about  the  punishment  of  one  of  the  hospital  attendants  of  his  division  by  Captain 
Wirz,  which  communication  I  indorsed  and  sent  to  Dr.  Clayton,  who  was  then 
senior  surgeon;  he  forwarded  it  to  Colonel  Thurlow,  who  was  then  commandant 
of  the  post  at  Andersonville,  and  it  was  referred  to  Captain  Wirz  for  remarks; 
when  the  paper  was  returned  to  Colonel  Thurlow  I  am  not  able  to  say,  but  it 
never  came  back  to  me;  no  indorsement  was  put  upon  the  paper,  but  a  reply  was 
made  in  a  communication  from  Captain  Wirz,  which  reply  made  it  necessary  for 
Dr.  James  to  find  out  what  were  the  orders;  in  other  words,  it  made  it  necessary 
for  us,  as  medical  officers,  to  know  the  relations  which  we  held  with  the  officers 
of  the  post;  we  found  from  the  orders  that  we  held  no  power,  that  we  had,  you 
may  say,  no  rights,  and  that  if  Captain  Wirz  felt  disposed  to  do  anything  in  the 
hospital  which  his  orders  allowed  him  to  do,  (and  they  gave  him  almost  absolute 
power,)  he  could  do  it  without  consulting  a  medical  officer. 

Q.     From  whom  did  he  get  that  authority? 

A.     From  Brigadier-General  John  H.  Winder. 

Q.     What  was  General  Winder's  status  there  at  that  time? 

A.     He  was  not  there  at  that  time. 

Q.     Where  was  he? 

A.  I  do  not  know;  he  made  his  headquarters  at  Millen;  I  do  not  recollect 
where  he  was  then,  whether  at  Columbia,  Florence  or  Savannah. 

Q.  Do  you  know  anything  of  the  prisoner  putting  men  of  the  hospital  in 
stocks,  or  exercising  his  command  over  attendants  at  the  hospital? 

A.     I  saw  one  instance,  and  I  am  fully  convinced  in  my  own  mind  of  another. 

Q.     Give  the  instance  you  saw. 

A.  That  was  the  case  of  the  young  man  to  whom  I  have  just  alluded,  the 
chief  clerk  of  Dr.  James,  who  was  bucked;  he  was  sitting  outside  the  gate  as 
I  rode  up  to  the  hospital  one  morning;  I  inquired  the  cause,  and  was  told  Cap 
tain  Wirz  had  ordered  it. 

Q.     Do  you  know  the  reason  why  the  man  was  bucked? 

A.     I  knew  it  from  that  communication  which  I  have  mentioned. 

I  understood  that  there  was  a  dead-line  around  the  hospital;  the  understand 
ing  I  had  of  it  was  that  prisoners  passing  it  should  be  shot;  one  of  my  patients 
was  shot  somewhere  about  the  latter  part  of  1864,  or  the  first  of  1865;  I  don't 
remember  exactly;  the  man  was  killed;  he  lived  hardly  three  minutes;  he  was 
shot  through  the  heart;  I  examined  him  afterwards;  I  did  not  see  him  shot;  it 
happened  before  I  arrived  at  the  hospital  in  the  morning.1 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  B.  J.  HEAD.2 

I  was  assigned  to  duty  when  I  first  went  there,  but  was  sick  and  did  not  attend 
to  it.  I  remained  sick  for  several  days.  As  soon  as  I  recovered  sufficiently 
I  went  and  reported  again  to  Dr.  White  for  duty.  He  assigned  me  a  division 
of  the  hospital,  and  I  attended  to  that  while  I  remained  there.  I  found  that 
the  sufferings  of  the  men  there  were  very  great,  resulting  from  the  diseases  they 
were  suffering  under  and  from  the  want  of  the  proper  kind  of  dieting,  remedies, 

1  This   testimony   should  be   considered   in   connection    with   the   specific   acts   of   cruelty   by 
Wirz. 

2  Record,  p.  362  et  seq. 


138  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

etc.  I  think  I  could  have  done  more,  indeed  I  know  I  could,  with  proper  diet 
ing  than  I  could  with  the  medicines  that  we  had.  When  first  I  went  there,  I 
think  for  two  days,  not  more,  I  examined  each  individual  case,  made  my  own 
diagnosis,  and  wrote  out  my  own  prescriptions  accordingly.  I  found  that  the 
medicines  had  not  been  supplied;  I  asked  the  reason  why,  and  they  said  to  me 
I  was  not  to  practice  in  that  way;  that  I  had  to  practice  according  to  the  num 
bers  and  formulas  that  they  had.  I  said,  "I  know  nothing  of  these  formulas 
and  numbers  and  care  nothing  for  them,  and  I  am  not  going  to  practice  in  any 
such  way."  Then  I  went  my  rounds  and  diagnosed  the  cases  again  and  made 
out  a  prescription  for  each  case.  It  was  very  laborious;  I  had  a  good  many 
under  my  charge.  I  sent  up  the  prescriptions  and  they  were  again  refused,  and 
my  clerk,  who  was  what  we  down  South  call  "a  Yankee,"  told  me  that  it  was 
useless  for  me  to  make  out  these  prescriptions. 

Q.     Explain  what  these  formulas  and  numbers  meant. 

A.  They  commenced  with  one  and,  perhaps,  ran  up  to  thirty-odd.  "No.  1" 
was  good,  perhaps,  for  diarrhoea;  "No.  2"  for  dysentery;  "No.  3"  for  scorbutus; 
"No.  4"  for  something  else,  and  so  on.  It  was  taking  the  discretion  entirely  away 
from  the  prescribing  physician  himself.  I  was  informed  after  I  left  that  that 
system  was  abandoned.  I  objected  to  it  because  I  could  not  prescribe  properly 
for  my  patients.  I  looked  upon  it  as  utter  quackery.  Anybody,  whether  he  had 
ever  read  medicine  or  not,  could  practice  medicine  according  to  the  fomulas,  if 
he  could  only  diagnose  the  cases  and  find  out  what  was  the  matter  with  the 
patients,  but  it  was  often  doubtful  if  the  prescription  would  suit  a  case  in  its 
present  condition.  The  doctors,  however,  had  to  take  that  or  nothing.  Part  of 
the  time  there  was  not  even  that,  and  they  had  nothing  in  the  world  to  give  their 
patients  but  a  little  red-oak  bark  as  an  astringent  and  other  barks  that  we  could 
get  out  of  the  woods.  Frequently  men  would  die  for  want  of  a  stimulant.  I 
could  not  get  it;  I  would  make  requisition  for  it  and  sometimes  I  would  get  some 
and  sometimes  I  would  not. 

Here  is  the  testimony  of  a  group  of  professional  men,  seven  in 
number,  which  is  entitled  to  every  presumption  of  reliability  and 
truthfulness.  No  reasonable  hypothesis  can  be  advanced  which  can 
shake  the  conclusions  of  this  evidence.  It  is  incredible  that  all  these 
men  would  swear  falsely  against  the  government  they  had  served. 
Besides,  their  testimony,  while  brought  more  nearly  to  us  because  of 
the  personal  contact  of  the  witnesses  with  the  facts  narrated,  is  but 
confirmatory  of  Colonel  Chandler's  and  Dr.  Jones's  and  other  reports 
made  alone  for  the  eye  of  the  Richmond  authorities  and  impartial 
beyond  all  question. 

Further  confirmation  is  found  in  the  appearance  of  the  prisoners 
who  were  rescued  by  our  victorious  armies,  and  were  brought  out  of 
their  confinement,  restored  to  freedom,  to  pure  air,  and  wholesome 
food,  by  their  sympathetic  and  horrified  comrades  in  arms. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDEKATE  SUKGEONS.  139 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  WILLIAM  BALSER. 

Dr.  William  Balser  had  occasion  to  treat  a  large  body  of  prisoners 
who  were  on  their  way  to  freedom  from  prison  life  in  April  and 
May,  1865.  His  testimony  deals  with  their  condition  shortly  after 
leaving  Anderson ville.  He  testified:1 

My  position  is  acting  assistant  surgeon,  contract  surgeon.  I  was  stationed  at 
Hilton  Head,  South  Carolina,  twenty-seven  months.  I  had  occasion  to  treat 
the  prisoners  returned  from  Andersonville  at  Jacksonville,  Florida,  from  the 
1st  to  the  26th  of  May.  I  was  ordered  there  on  the  28th  of  April.  There 
arrived  at  Jacksonville  on  the  first  of  May  3,250  prisoners,  and  the  same  day 
that  I  arrived  50  more  arrived.  They  were  in  a  most  horrible  condition,  nearly 
naked.  If  they  did  have  anything  on  it  was  only  rags.  They  were  covered 
with  filth  and  lice.  They  had  sores  all  over  them,  and  a  great  many  of  them 
were  living  skeletons.  The  most  prominent  disease  among  them  was  scurvy 
and  diarrhoea.  The  diarrhoea  seemed  to  be  a  symptom  of  the  scurvy,  not  the 
ordinary  camp  diarrhoea  that  we  see  in  our  army.  The  men  got  better  as  soon 
as  they  got  better  treatment  and  fresh  vegetables.  Fresh  vegetables  generally 
increased  our  ordinary  diarrhoea.  A  great  number  of  the  prisoners  had  their 
arms  and  legs  swelled  up  three  or  four  times  their  natural  size  and  actually 
black  with  extravasated  blood.  They  had  ulcers  three  or  four  inches  in  diam 
eter  on  their  arms  and  calves  of  their  legs.  Some  of  them,  from  the  effects  of 
the  scurvy,  had  necrosis  of  the  jaws,  so  that  I  was  obliged  to  pull  out  pieces  of 
bone  nearly  an  inch  long.  Some  of  them  had  lost  the  eye  from  ulceration  of 
the  anterior  portion  of  the  cornea.  Some  of  them  were  totally  blind,  no  doubt 
from  extravasation  of  blood  as  well  as  from  fluid  in  the  posterior  parts  of  the  eye. 
A  good  many  were  idiotic  and  demented  from  softness  of  the  brain,  resulting, 
no  doubt,  from  long  suffering.  Bad  nourishment  and  exposure  to  the  weather 
would  cause  that.  There  were  3,300  at  Jacksonville  altogether,  and  I  do  not 
believe  there  were  200  who  did  not  require  treatment,  more  or  less.  From  the 
1st  of  May  to  the  26th  of  May,  when  the  last  of  them  were  taken  away,  there 
had  died  between  80  or  90.  The  3,300  were  not  there  all  the  time.  On  the 
9th  of  May  between  1,300  and  1,400  were  taken  away,  part  to  the  hospital  at 
Hilton  Head  and  part  to  Annapolis.  On  the  15th  or  16th  of  May  there  was 
another  batch  taken  away,  so  that  on  the  26th  of  May,  when  the  hospital  steamer 
Cosmopolitan  came  to  take  off  the  balance,  there  were  only  from  250  to  300  men 
left  there.  I  know  from  the  records  that  between  40  and  50  died  at  the  hospital 
at  Hilton  Head.  I  do  not  believe  that  one-half  of  them  will  ever  again  be  fit 
for  their  former  occupations.  I  take  it  for  granted  that  they  were  mostly 
mechanics  and  farmers.  I  do  not  believe  that  they  will  ever  be  strong  enough 
to  perform  the  same  amount  of  work. 

[Four  photographic  pictures,  one  of  them  being  already  in  evidence,  and  the 
others  being  subsequently  put  in  evidence,  were  here  shown  to  the  witness.2]  I 
have  seen  cases  similar  to  those;  I  have  seen  numbers  of  them,  not  individual 
cases,  but,  I  might  say,  by  the  dozen.  Long-continued,  improper,  and  insufficient 

1  Record,  p.  151  et  seq. 

2  These   photographs,    sent   up   with   the   record   to   the    War   Department,    have   with   other 
exhibits  disappeared. 


140  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

food,  and  exposure  to  the  weather,  produce  this  condition  of  things  among  these 
prisoners;  to  the  sun  as  well  as  to  the  cold  and  rain  storms.  I  also  saw  several 
cases  of  gangrene,  produced  no  doubt  by  exposure  to  cold  and  (in  the  latter  part 
of  April)  to  the  sun.  From  the  history  given  by  the  men,  their  feet  commenced 
to  blister  and  all  vitality  left  their  limbs.  I  do  not  meet  with  these  peculiarities  of 
disease  in  treating  the  soldiers  of  our  army.  I  have  been  in  the  service  three  years 
and  eight  months,  and  during  that  time  I  have  only  seen  one  case  of  scurvy  in 
our  army,  and  I  have  been  where  there  was  a  chance  for  men  to  get  it,  on  the 
peninsula.  I  did  not  find  it  necessary  to  make  amputations  in  treating  these 
returned  prisoners;  they  were  too  far  gone.  They  died  three  or  four  days  after 
they  came  to  Jacksonville.  I  made  no  amputations  on  the  survivors. 

I  was  educated  as  a  physician  in  New  York  city.  I  am  a  regular  graduate 
of  medicine.  I  had  been  in  practice  two  or  three  months  before  going  to  Jack 
sonville.  I  was  in  the  hospital  as  surgeon  about  twenty-three  months  before 
these  prisoners  came  to  me.  Those  thirty-three  hundred  prisoners  arrived  between 
the  28th  of  April  and  the  1st  of  May,  1865.  I  knew  they  came  from  Anderson- 
ville  from  the  statement  of  nearly  every  one  of  them,  and  from  the  official  lists 
of  the  provost  marshal  general  of  the  department  of  the  south;  official  reports 
are  sent  with  them.  I  know  that  all  these  3,300  came  from  there.  I  know  noth 
ing  about  Andersonville  myself,  thank  God. 

Witnesses  varied  in  their  statements  of  the  interior  of  the  prison. 
Colonel  Chandler  reported  the  actual  fact  to  have  been  that  the  pris 
oners  had  about  six  square  feet  to  the  man — scarcely  enough  for  all 
to  lie  down  at  once.  He  probably  deducted  the  unavailable  ground. 
Dr.  Jones  estimated  the  area  as  33.2  square  feet  to  the  man,  which 
he  said  represented  "the  condition  of  the  stockade  in  a  better  light  even 
than  it  really  was ;  for  a  considerable  breadth  of  land  along  the  stream 
was  low  and  boggy  and  useless  for  any  purpose  except  that  of  defeca 
tion."  He  makes  no  mention  of  the  dead-line  space  taken  out,  or  of 
the  necessary  passageways  for  admitting  supplies,  or  space  occupied 
by  improvised  shelter.  Captain  James  M.  Moore,  in  his  official  report 
to  the  war  department,  gave  the  dimensions  of  the  prison  as  1,540  feet 
long  by  750  feet  wide.  This  was,  no  doubt,  by  actual  measurement. 
He  gave  the  strip  taken  off  by  the  dead-line  as  17  feet,  which  reduced 
the  prison  to  1,506  feet  by  716  feet,  or  1,078,296  square  feet.  The  evi 
dence  showed  that  the  swamp  covered  about  two  acres  and  the  neces 
sary  passageways  another  acre,  or  131,880  square  feet,  which  would 
leave  946,416  square  feet.  At  times  there  were  35,000  prisoners  at 
Andersonville  Prison,  each  of  whom  had  27  square  feet,  or  a  space 
3  by  9  feet.  When  there  were  30,000  the  space  would  be  31  feet,  or 
5  by  6.2  feet.  It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why  these  miserable 
creatures  died  as  rapidly  in  the  stockade  as  outside  in  the  hospital. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CONFEDERATE  SUEGEONS.  141 

Let  the  reader  picture  this  compact  mass  of  human  beings,  ragged, 
hatless,  shoeless,  many  of  them  stark  naked,  moving  about  and  neces 
sarily  jostling  each  other  as  they  sought  a  change  of  position — the  sun 
beating  down  on  their  devoted  heads,  or  the  rain  pelting  upon  them, 
making  the  earth  under  their  feet  a  sea  of  mud,  as  some  witnesses  de 
scribed  it.  Add  to  this  scene  the  physicial  condition  of  these  men, 
reduced  to  skeletons  by  starvation  and  wasting  disease,  and  then  try 
to  realize  the  horrors  of  this  death-pit ! 

In  this  narrow  space  the  prisoner  was  obliged  to  protect  himself  as 
he  might  and  in  this  3  by  9  feet  he  was  forced  to  cook  most  of  his  scanty 
rations  and  practically  to  live  night  and  day.  It  seems  incredible  that 
men  could  withstand  such  a  life  for  months  and  survive.  All  the 
witnesses,  rebel  and  prisoners,  concurred  in  the  belief  that  one  of 
the  potent  causes  of  death  was  the  crowded  condition  of  the  prison, 
and  out  of  all  the  causes  of  the  mortality  this  was  the  least  difficult 
of  removal.  The  men  stood  ready  to  work  their  way  to  pure  air  and 
greater  freedom  of  movement;  the  rebel  authorities  resolutely  re 
fused  them  this  privilege. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

CONDITIONS  AT  ANDERSONVILLE  CONTINUED — TESTIMONY  OF  REV.  FATHER  HAMIL 
TON—NO  SHELTER  FROM  SUN  OR  STORMS — FATHER  HAMILTON  CRAWLED  INTO 
BURROWS  TO  ADMINISTER  LAST  SACRAMENT  TO  DYING— PRISONERS  COVERED 
WITH  VERMIN — TESTIMONY  OF  CITIZENS  LIVING  IN  THE  SOUTH — PUBLICITY  OF 
THE  SUFFERING  OF  PRISONERS — SUPPLIES  WERE  OBTAINABLE  AND  SUFFICIENT 
TO  HAVE  SUSTAINED  THE  PRISONERS  —  PRISONERS  MIGHT  HAVE  BEEN 
SHELTERED — THE  PRISON  MIGHT  HAVE  BEEN  ENLARGED — MEANS  OF  TRANS 
PORTATION  AVAILABLE — SUPPLIES  SENT  BY  SANITARY  COMMISSION. 

REV.  WILLIAM  JOHN  HAMILTON,  a  Catholic  clergyman,  vis 
ited  the  prison  in  May,  1864.  He  resided  in  the  South,  at  the  city 
of  Macon,  Georgia,  and  voluntarily  went  to  Andersonville  in  pursuit  of 
his  priestly  office.  What  he  saw  and  experienced  is  confirmatory  of 
what  has  already  been  shown.  It  is  especially  important  as  describing 
the  condition  in  which  he  found  the  prisoners  as  early  as  May,  1864. 
It  shows  that  long  before  the  frightful  and  dreadful  sufferings  and 
death  of  July  and  August  the  prisoners  were  passing  through  a  like 
ordeal.  He  testified: 

TESTIMONY  OP  REV.  WM.  JOHN  HAMILTON. 

I  am  pastor  of  the  Catholic  church  in  Macon,  Georgia.1  I  visited  Anderson 
ville  three  times.  It  was  one  of  the  missions  attached  to  my  church.  I  went 
there,  I  think,  in  the  month  of  May,  1864,  and  spent  a  day  there.  The  follow 
ing  week  I  went  and  spent  three  days  there  among  the  prisoners,  and  then  re 
turned  and  wrote  a  report  on  the  condition  of  the  hospital  and  stockade  to  my 
bishop,  in  order  that  he  might  send  the  requisite  number  of  priests  to  visit  the 
prisoners  there;  and  I  visited  it  again  after  the  prisoners  had  been  removed  from 
Andersonville  to  Thomasville.  I  do  not  remember  the  month  that  occurred.  It 
was  in  the  beginning  of  this  year,  in  the  month  of  February  or  March,  1865. 

Q.  State  to  the  court  in  what  condition  you  found  the  stockade  when  you 
first  visited  it,  and  subsequently,  and  all  the  time  while  you  were  there. 

A.  The  first  time  I  visited  the  stockade  I  only  had  about  three  or  four  hours 
to  spend  there.  I  merely  went  to  see  what  the  condition  of  the  place  was.  My 
principal  object  was  to  find  out,  if  possible,  the  number  of  Catholics  who  were 
prisoners  there,  in  order  that  we  might  induce  the  bishop  to  send  a  sufficient 
number  of  priests.  I  did  not  pay  much  attention  to  what  I  saw  or  heard  there 
then.  The  following  week  I  returned,  and  spent  three  days.  I  visited  the 
stockade  and  the  hospital,  discharging  my  duties  as  a  priest  of  the  Catholic 
church.  On  this  my  second  visit  to  the  stockade,  I  found,  I  think,  about  23,000 

1  Record,  p.  287  et  seq. 


144  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

prisoners  there;  at  least  the  prisoners  themselves  told  me  there  were  that  num 
ber.  I  found  the  place  extremely  crowded,  with  a  great  deal  of  sickness  and 
suffering  among  the  men.  I  was  kept  so  busy  administering  the  sacrament  to 
the  dying,  that  I  had  to  curtail  a  great  deal  of  the  service  that  Catholic  priests 
administer  to  the  dying,  for  the  reason  they  were  so  numerous — they  died  so 
fast.  I  waited  only  upon  those  of  my  own  church ;  they  were  the  only  persons 
who  demanded  my  ministrations.  When  I  speak  of  the  number  dying,  I  mean 
among  those  of  my  own  church,  and  do  not  include  others. 

Q.     Give  the  court  some  idea  of  the  condition  of  the  stockade. 

A.  I  found  the  stockade  extremely  filthy;  the  men  all  huddled  together, 
and  covered  with  vermin.  The  best  idea  I  can  give  the  court  of  the  condition 
of  the  -place  is,  perhaps,  this :  I  went  in  there  with  a  white  linen  coat  on,  and 
I  had  not  been  in  there  more  than  ten  minutes  or  a  quarter  of  an  hour,  when  a 
gentleman  drew  my  attention  to  the  condition  of  my  coat.  It  was  all  covered 
over  with  vermin,  and  I  had  to  take  my  coat  off  and  leave  it  with  one  of  the 
guards,  and  perform  my  duties  in  my  shirt-sleeves,  the  place  was  so  filthy. 

Q.  State  to  the  court  any  particular  case  which  came  under  your  notice  that 
would  help  to  illustrate  the  condition  of  things  there. 

A.     That  is  about  the  only  idea  I  can  give  of  the  stockade. 

Q.  State  any  particular  case  you  observed  showing  the  destitution  of  the 
prisoners. 

A.  The  first  person  I  conversed  with,  on  entering  the  stockade,  was  a  coun 
tryman  of  mine,  a  member  of  the  Catholic  church,  who  recognized  me  as  a 
clergyman.  I  think  his  name  was  Farrell.  He  was  from  the  north  of  Ireland. 
He  came  over  towards  me,  and  introduced  himself.  He  was  quite  a  boy;  I  do 
not  think,  judging  from  his  appearance,  that  he  could  have  been  more  than  six 
teen  years  old.  I  found  him  without  a  hat,  and  without  any  covering  on  his 
feet,  and  without  jacket  or  coat.  He  told  me  that  his  shoes  had  been  taken 
from  him  on  the  battle-field.  I  found  the  boy  suffering  very  much  from  a  wound 
on  his  right  foot;  in  fact  the  foot  was  split  open  like  an  oyster;  and,  on  inquir 
ing  the  cause,  they  told  me  it  was  from  exposure  to  the  sun  in  the  stockade,  and 
not  from  any  wound  received  in  battle.  I  took  off  my  boots,  and  gave  him  a 
pair  of  socks  to  cover  his  feet,  and  told  him  I  would  bring  him  some  clothing,  as 
I  expected  to  return  to  Andersonville  the  following  week.  I  had  to  return  to 
Macon  to  get  another  priest  to  take  my  place  on  Sunday.  When  I  returned,  the 
following  week,  on  inquiring  for  this  man  Farrell,  his  companions  told  me  he  had 
stepped  across  the  dead-line,  and  requested  the  guards  to  shoot  him.  He  was  not 
insane  at  the  time  I  was  conversing  with  him.  It  was  three  or  four  days  after 
that  when  I  was  asking  for  him.  I  think  it  was  the  latter  part  of  May,  1864.  To 
the  best  of  my  recollection  his  name  was  Farrell.  I  do  not  know  to  what  company 
or  regiment  he  belonged.  I  did  not  ask  him.  When  I  speak  of  administering  the 
sacrament  of  the  church  to  those  dying,  I  refer  to  those  in  the  stockade,  and  in  the 
hospital  also — in  both  places.  I  spent  two  days  in  the  stockade  and  one  in  the 
hospital  during  my  second  visit  to  Andersonville.  This  case  that  I  have  spoken 
of  occurred  in  the  stockade.  He  had  no  medical  treatment  at  all.  None  of  those 
who  died  in  there,  and  to  whom  I  administered  the  sacrament,  received  any  medi 
cal  treatment  at  all,  so  far  as  I  could  see.  When  I  went  in  the  hospital  I  found 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLEEGYMEN  AND  OTHEES.  145 

it  almost  as  crowded  as  the  stockade  was.  The  men  were  dying  there  very  rap 
idly,  from  scurvy,  diarrhoaa,  and  dysentery;  and,  as  far  as  I  could  observe,  I  could 
not  see  that  they  received  any  medical  treatment  whatsoever,  or  received  any 
medicines  at  all. 

Q.     How  were  they  situated  as  to  beds  or  bedding? 

A.  They  were  all  in  tents;  the  hospital  was  composed  of  tents  arranged  in 
avenues,  and  I  did  not  see  that  they  had  anything  under  them  at  all  ezcept  the 
ground;  in  some  cases  I  think  that  they  had  dried  leaves  that  they  had  gathered 
together.  In  my  ministration  while  at  the  hospital,  I  saw  one  surgeon  there — 
the  surgeon  in  charge  there  at  that  time,  Dr.  White. 

Q.     State  the  circumstances. 

A.  I  was  attending  an  Irishman,  I  think,  by  the  name  of  Connor,  who 
was  captured  at  the  night  assault  made  on  Fort  Sumter;  at  least  I  think  he  told 
me  so.  He  was  captured  in  Charleston  harbor,  and  he  was  in  the  last  stage  of 
dysentery.  He  was  so  bad  that  I  had  to  hear  his  confession  and  give  him  the 
rites  of  the  church  sitting  upon  a  stool.  While  I  was  hearing  the  man's  confes 
sion,  Surgeon  White  passed  through  the  hospital,  and  seeing  me  whispering  to 
the  prisoner  and  not  knowing,  I  suppose,  who  I  was,  ordered  the  guard  to  bring 
me  up  to  his  quarters  under  arrest.  I  went  up  there  and  he  apologized  for 
having  done  so;  he  having  in  the  mean  time  inquired  of  Captain  Wirz  who  I 
was,  and  the  captain  having  told  him  that  he  had  given  me  the  necessary  pass. 
I  conversed  with  Dr.  White  with  regard  to  the  condition  of  the  men,  and  he 
told  me  it  was  not  in  his  power  to  do  anything  for  them;  that  he  had  no  medi 
cine  and  could  not  get  any,  and  that  he  was  doing  everything  in  his  power  to 
help  them.  That  was  the  only  time  I  ever  met  a  surgeon  there.  Captain  Wirz 
gave  me  the  pass.  I  first  called  upon  Colonel  Persons,  who  was  the  officer  in 
command  at  Andersonville,  and  he  referred  me  to  Captain  Wirz,  and  Captain 
Wirz  gave  me  a  pass  and  gave  me  every  facility  in  his  power  to  visit  those  men. 
He  walked  down  to  the  stockade  with  me  and  showed  me  the  entrance.  That 
pass  held  good  only  for  that  day.  That  was  the  first  day  I  went  there.  It 
was  renewed  afterwards  by  Captain  Wirz.  It  continued  for  the  three  days  I 
was  there.  I  did  not  have  it  renewed  afterwards.  I  did  not  visit  Andersonville 
again  until  the  prisoners  had  been  removed  to  Thomasville.  That  was  the  be 
ginning  of  this  year. 

Q.     Was  Captain  Wirz  in  command? 

A.  I  did  not  see  him,  I  have  a  mission  below  Andersonville,  at  a  place  called 
Americus,  and  I  was  going  down  there  to  give  the  people  an  opportunity  of  per 
forming  their  religious  duties.  I  stopped  at  Andersonville,  intending  to  pass  the 
night  there  if  there  were  any  prisoners  still  left  there,  but  was  told  at  the  depot 
that  the  prisoners  had  all  been  removed,  so  I  did  not  go  up  to  the  stockade.  I 
do  not  know  if  there  were  any  prisoners  there  or  if  Captain  Wirz  was  there. 

Q.  What  did  you  observe  with  regard  to  shelter  in  the  stockade  and  the  suf 
fering  of  the  men  from  heat  there? 

A.  When  I  visited  the  stockade  there  was  no  shelter  at  all  so  far  as  I  could 
see,  except  that  some  of  the  men  who  had  their  blankets  there  had  put  them  up 
on  little  bits  of  roots  that  they  had  abstracted  from  the  ground;  but  I  could  not 
see  any  tents  or  shelter  of  any  other  kind.  I  got  the  names  of  several  prisoners 


146  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

who  had  relatives  living  in  the  south  and  wrote  to  their  friends  when  I  returned 
to  Macon,  and  I  had  some  tents  introduced  there;  they  were  sent  down,  and  the 
men  received  them. 

Q.  Can  you  illustrate  to  the  court  the  condition  of  the  prison,  by  stating  any 
instance  where  you  tried  to  make  your  way  through  the  crowd  to  a  prisoner  who 
was  dying? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  during  my  second  visit  to  the  prison,  I  was  told  that  there  was 
an  Irishman  over  at  the  extreme  end  of  the  stockade  who  was  calling  out  for  a 
priest.  I  suppose  he  had  heard  that  I  had  visited  the  prison  the  day  before, 
and  he  was  very  anxious  to  see  a  priest,  and  was  calling  for  one  all  over  the 
stockade.  There  is  a  branch  that  runs  right  in  the  center  of  the  stockade,  and 
I  tried  to  cross  the  branch,  but  was  unable  to  do  so  as  the  men  were  all  crowding 
around  there  trying  to  get  into  the  water  to  cool  themselves,  and  wash  themselves. 
I  could  not  get  over  the  branch,  and  had  to  leave  the  stockade  without  seeing 
the  man.  The  heat  there  was  intolerable;  there  was  no  air  at  all  in  the  stockade. 
The  logs  of  which  the  stockade  was  composed  were  so  close  together  that  I 
could  not  feel  any  fresh  air  inside;  and  with  a  strong  sun  beaming  down  on  it 
and  no  shelter  at  all,  of  course  the  heat  must  have  been  insufferable;  at  least  I 
felt  it  so. 

Q.     How  did  it  affect  the  priests  on  duty  there? 

A.  The  priests  who  went  there  after  me,  while  administering  the  sacra 
ment  to  the  dying,  had  to  use  an  umbrella,  the  heat  was  so  intense.  Some  of 
them  broke  down  in  consequence  of  their  services  there.  In  the  month  of 
August,  I  think,  we  had  three  priests  there  constantly.  We  had  a  priest  from 
Mobile  who  spoke  three  or  four  languages,  inasmuch  as  you  could  find  every 
nationality  inside  the  stockade,  and  two  from  Savannah,  and  we  had  one 
from  Augusta  at  another  time.  One  of  the  priests  from  Savannah  came  to 
Macon,  where  I  reside,  completely  prostrated,  and  was  sick  at  my  house  for  several 
days. 

There  were  saw-mills  in  that  vicinity  along  the  railroad.  I  do  not  remember 
if  they  were  near  to  Andersonville.  I  used  to  visit  Albany,  which  I  suppose  is 
thirty  or  forty  miles  below  Andersonville,  once  every  month.  It  was  my  duty 
to  go  there  that  often,  and  I  used  to  see  saw-mills  along  the  railroad  in  operation. 
I  have  heard  that  the  prisoners  proposed  to  cut  wood  for  themselves.  I  have 
heard  prisoners  say  so  themselves.  I  did  not  keep  an  account  of  the  dying  men 
I  used  to  attend  per  day  to  administer  the  last  sacrament,  but  judging  from  the 
hours  I  was  engaged  and  what  I  know  to  be  the  length  of  the  service,  I  suppose 
I  must  have  attended  from  twenty  to  thirty  every  day;  sometimes  more  and 
sometimes  less.  That  was  about  the  average  number — between  twenty  and 
thirty. 

Q.  Can  you  speak  more  particularly  as  to  the  bodily  condition  of  those  inside 
the  stockade,  their  clothing  and  the  appearance  of  the  men? 

A.  Well,  as  I  said  before,  when  I  went  there  I  was  kept  so  busily  engaged 
in  giving  the  sacrament  to  the  dying  men  that  I  could  not  observe  much;  but 
of  course  I  could  not  keep  my  eyes  closed  as  to  what  I  saw  there.  I  saw  a 
great  many  men  perfectly  naked,  walking  about  through  the  stocJcade  perfectly 
nude;  they  seemed  to  have  lost  all  regard  for  delicacy,  shame,  morality,  or 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLERGYMEN  AND  OTHERS.  147 

anything  else.  I  would  frequently  have  to  creep  on  my  hands  and  Icnees  into 
the  holes  that  the  men  had  burrowed  in  the  ground  and  stretch  myself  out  along 
side  of  them  to  hear  their  confessions.  I  found  them  almost  living  in  vermin  in 
those  holes;  they  could  not  be  in  any  other  condition  but  a  filthy  one,  because 
they  got  no  soap  and  no  change  of  clothing,  and  were  there  all  huddled  up 
together. 

I  never  at  any  time  counted  the  number  of  dead  bodies  being  taken  out  of  the 
stockade  in  the  morning.  I  have  never  seen  any  dead  carried  out  of  the  stockade. 
I  have  seen  dead  bodies  in  the  hospital  in  the  morning.  In  the  case  of  the  man 
in  the  hospital  of  whom  I  was  speaking  a  while  ago,  after  I  had  heard  his  con 
fession,  and  before  I  gave  him  the  last  rites  of  the  church  sacrament  in  "extreme 
unction,"  as  we  call  it,  I  saw  them  placing  the  night  guards  in  the  hospital,  and 
knew  that  I  would  not  be  able  to  get  out  after  that.  I  told  him  that  I  would 
return  in  the  morning  and  give  him  the  other  rites  of  the  church,  if  he  still  lived. 
I  was  in  there  early  the  next  morning,  and  in  going  down  one  of  the  avenues  I 
counted  from  forty  to  sixty  dead  bodies  of  those  who  had  died  during  the  night 
in  the  hospital.  I  had  never  seen  any  dead  bodies  in  the  stockade.  I  have  seen 
a  person  in  the  hospital  in  a  nude  condition,  perfectly  naked.  They  were  not 
only  covered  with  the  ordinary  vermin,  but  with  maggots.  They  had  involun 
tary  evacuations,  and  there  were  no  persons  to  look  after  them.  The  nurses  did 
not  seem  to  pay  any  attention  whatever,  and  in  consequence  of  being  allowed  to 
lie  in  their  own  filth  for  some  hours,  vermin  of  every  description  had  got  on  them, 
which  they  were  unable  to  keep  off.  This  was  in  the  latter  part  of  May.  I 
never  noticed  in  the  stockade  the  men  digging  in  the  ground,  and  standing  in 
the  sand  to  protect  themselves  from  the  sun.  I  did  not  see  any  instance  of 
that  kind.  I  have  seen  them  making  little  places  from  a  foot  to  a  foot  and  a 
half  deep,  and  stretching  their  blankets  right  over  them.  T  have  crawled  into 
such  places  frequently  to  hear  the  confessions  of  the  dying.  They  would  hold 
from  one  to  two;  sometimes  a  prisoner  would  share  his  blanket  with  another, 
and  allow  him  to  get  under  shelter. 

When  I  returned  from  the  stockade  after  my  second  visit  to  it,  at  the  latter  end 
of  May,  I  represented  these  things  to  General  Cobb.  I  wrote  to  our  bishop  and 
told  him  that  these  men  were  dying  in  large  numbers;  that  there  were  many 
Catholics  there,  and  that  they  required  the  services  of  a  priest,  and  he  sent  up 
Father  Whelan.  Father  Whelan  expressed  a  desire  to  see  General  Cobb  before 
he  went  down  to  the  stockade.  I  called  upon  General  Cobb  and  told  him  that 
I  had  been  there,  and  gave  him  a  description  of  the  place  as  well  as  I  could, 
and  he  asked  me  what  I  would  recommend  to  be  done,  as  he  intended  to  write 
to  Richmond  with  regard  to  the  condition  of  that  place.  After  I  found  out  from 
his  conversation  that  nothing  more  could  be  done  for  the  bodily  comfort  of  the 
men,  owing  to  the  stringency  of  the  blockade,  and  so  forth,  I  advised  him  to  parole 
those  men  upon  their  own  word  of  honor,  and  take  them  down  to  Jackson 
ville,  Florida,  and  turn  them  into  the  Federal  lines.  Whether  that  recommenda 
tion  was  acted  on  or  not  I  do  not  know;  he  asked  my  opinion  and  I  gave  it. 
At  that  time,  when  I  told  him  of  the  condition  in  which  I  found  things  there,  it 
was  known  to  the  whole  country,  for  it  was  published  in  the  newspapers  in  the 
South.  I  do  not  know  about  its  being  common  talk  and  rumor  throughout  the 


148  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

Confederacy.  I  am  only  speaking  about  Macon  and  southwestern  Georgia.  The 
whole  of  southwestern  Georgia  is  included  in  my  mission,  and  I  know  that  the 
condition  of  the  prison  was  well  known  in  Macon  and  throughout  southwestern 
Georgia.  I  do  not  remember  that  I  made  any  suggestion  with  regard  to  shelter 
at  the  time  I  had  this  conversation  with  General  Cobb;  it  is  very  probable  that 
I  did.  I  cannot  recollect  whether  he  said  anything  about  it  or  not. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  whether  he  stated  that  he  had  written  to  Eichmond  or 
that  he  was  about  to  write  to  Kichmond  to  represent  the  condition  of  things  at 
Andersonville? 

A.  When  he  asked  me  to  give  him  a  description  of  the  condition  of  the  place, 
he  remarked,  I  think,  that  he  was  going  to  write  and  wished  to  have  some  infor 
mation  from  me  on  the  point.  He  remarked  also  that  he  would  like  me  to  give 
him  a  description,  because  he  knew  the  relations  that  existed  between  the  Cath 
olic  priest  and  the  members  of  his  church,  and  that  they  would  be  more  unre 
served  in  communicating  with  me  than  with  others.  .  .  . 

I  saw  Captain  Wirz  the  first  time  I  went  there.  He  received  me  with  all 
kindness  and  politeness,  and  seemed  to  be  pleased  at  my  going  there  when  I 
stated  my  purpose.  I  had  never  seen  him  before.  I  had  no  introduction  to 
him  more  than  I  made  myself.  I  told  him  who  I  was — that  I  was  a  Catholic 
priest  come  there  to  visit  the  prisoners,  to  find  out  if  possible  the  number  of 
Catholics  there,  and  that  I  had  been  directed  to  call  on  him  by  Colonel  Persons. 
I  called  on  him  the  same  as  any  other  stranger  might  call  on  him.  As  well  as 
I  can  remember,  he  said  he  was  very  well  pleased  to  see  me,  and  that  he  had 
expected  priests  would  have  gone  there  before  that  time.  I  think  he  had  said 
something  to  the  effect  that  he  was  anxious  to  have  care  and  attention  given  to 
the  prisoners.  His  action  towards  me  showed  that,  and  if  I  am  not  mistaken 
he  told  me  so.  The  only  time  I  ever  conversed  with  Captain  Wirz  or  saw  him 
was  when  I  went  for  my  pass.  I  had  two  passes  and  went  to  Captain  Wirz  for 
them  on  both  occasions,  and  those  were  the  only  times  that  I  either  saw  him  or 
conversed  with  him.  I  never  met  him  inside  the  stockade  or  was  with  him  there. 
I  met  him  always  in  his  office.  There  was  no  restriction  upon  me  whatever  in 
regard  to  my  taking  with  me  anything  I  chose  into  the  stockade.  I  could  take 
anything  at  all,  money,  clothing,  or  anything  of  that  sort.  I  did  not  while  I 
was  there  hear  of  any  restrictions  placed  upon  others  to  prevent  them  from  tak 
ing  in  anything  they  chose  for  the  relief  of  the  prisoners.  .  .  . 

Of  course  I  could  only  offer  my  opinion  to  the  court  as  to  the  causes  of  the 
death  of  those  prisoners  that  I  saw  dying  in  such  numbers.  I  did  not  see  any 
die  from  long-standing  wounds  either  in  the  stockade  or  the  hospital.  I  do  not 
remember  that  I  attended  any  who  died  from  wounds.  I  have  seen  them  dying 
from  scurvy,  but  not  from  gunshot  wounds.  I  have  seen  them  dying  from 
diarrhoea  and  from  dysentery — from  no  other  complaints  or  causes.  Those  were 
the  prevailing  complaints  among  the  prisoners  while  I  was  there.  I  know  only 
the  case  I  mentioned,  of  any  one  being  shot  or  dying  from  wounds  recently 
received,  the  case  of  Farrel,  and  I  did  not  see  him  shot.  All  I  know  about  that 
is,  some  one  said  he  was  shot. 

Q.  Give  us  the  names  of  the  priests  who  attended  at  Andersonville  besides 
yourself. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLEKGYMEN  AND  OTHERS.  149 

A.  Father  Whelan  was  there,  a  priest  from  Savannah,  and  Father  Clavreul, 
a  French  clergyman  from  Savannah;  also  Father  John  Kirby,  of  Augusta,  and 
Father  Hosannah,  a  Jesuit  from  the  Spring  Hill  College,  near  Mobile.  Father 
Kirby,  of  Augusta,  remained  there  two  weeks,  I  think.  They  did  not  remain 
most  or  all  of  the  time  during  the  summer  months.  Father  Whelan  remained 
there  for  four  months  constantly,  and  the  others  left  after  a  stay  of  two  or 
three  weeks.  .  .  . 

I  think  there  are  three  papers  published  at  Macon,  or  were  there  at  that  time. 
I  remember  reading  articles  in  them  relating  to  the  Andersonville  Prison,  par 
ticularly  in  reference  to  it,  describing  the  condition  of  the  place.  I  do  not  think 
those  articles  appeared  very  frequently;  I  have  read  at  least  two,  perhaps  three. 
They  gave  an  idea  or  correct  impression  to  the  public  of  what  I  really  found 
there  myself.  It  was  an  accurate  description  of  the  place,  so  far  as  I  could 
judge  from  what  I  had  seen  myself.  They  gave  the  condition  of  everything.  .  .  . 
The  design  or  object  of  the  articles  seemed  to  be  to  excite  the  sympathy  of  the 
people,  I  should  think.  I  could  not  say  what  time  in  May  those  articles  ap 
peared — before  I  went  to  Andersonville  and  after  I  returned;  one  article  ap 
peared  before  I  went  there  and  one  or  two  after  I  returned.  My  interview  with 
General  Cobb  took  place  about  the  1st  of  June.  I  went  with  Father  Whelan, 
to  introduce  him  to  General  Cobb.  That  was  not  before  I  went  to  Andersonvi'le 
the  first  time;  I  had  been  there  twice.  I  think  it  was  about  the  1st  of  June 
that  Father  Whelan  came  up  to  go  to  Andersonville.  General  Cobb  expressed 
no  determination  to  have  the  state  of  things  remedied  immediately.  I  do  riot 
think  he  had  power  to  do  so;  in  fact  Father  Whelan  went  to  him  for  the  purposo 
of  obtaining  a  document  stating  who  he  was.  General  Cobb  said  he  could  not 
give  him  any  such  pass  as  that,  but  he  would  give  him  a  letter  of  introduction 
to  General  Winder,  which  he  did;  he  wrote  the  letter  in  our  presence.  I  do 
not  know  if  this  was  about  the  time  General  Cobb  went  to  Andersonville  himself; 
I  know  he  had  not  been  there  at  that  time. 

Is  it  true,  as  was  stated  by  the  vice-president  of  the  United  Daugh 
ters  of  the  Confederacy  to  General  Ketcham,  noted  in  a  former  chap 
ter,  that  "the  Confederacy's  treatment  of  prisoners  of  war  was  con 
ducted  on  humane  principles"  ?  Can  one  read  the  experiences  of  this 
holy  man  of  God  and  discover  in  the  treatment  of  prisoners  witnessed 
by  him  any  semblance  of  Christian  principles?  Picture  Father  Ham 
ilton  in  his  ministrations,  moving  about  among  these  ragged,  naked, 
starving,  dying  men.  See  him  crawling  into  their  burrows  in  the 
ground  to  give  to  them  the  consoling  thought  that  they  died  with  the 
hope  which  the  Christian  religion  mercifully  extends  to  the  penitent. 
May  not  these  skeletons  of  men  have  justly  cried  out  as  did  Brutus 
at  the  murder  of  Cassar: 

"O  judgment !  thou  art  fled  to  brutish  beasts, 
And  men  have  lost  their  reason!" 


150  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

TESTIMONY  OP  AMBROSE  SPENCER. 

Ambrose  Spencer  was  a  citizen  of  Sumter  County,  and  resided 
near  Americus,  not  far  from  Andersonville.  His  testimony  is  that  of 
an  intelligent  man,  speaking  from  personal  knowledge  and  from  re 
liable  sources  of  information.  His  testimony  discloses  a  phase  of  the 
character  of  Winder  and  Wirz  which  should  bring  the  blush  of  shame 
to  their  apologists.  Here  is  what  he  says  r1 

I  reside  near  Americus,  Sumter  County,  Georgia.  My  plantation  is  about  nine 
miles  from  Andersonville.  I  have  resided  there  for  the  last  five  years. 

I  visited  Andersonville  during  its  occupation  as  a  prison  very  frequently.  I 
have  seen  the  prisoner,  Captain  Wirz,  very  frequently.  I  was  there  nearly 
every  month,  I  think,  during  the  time  it  was  a  prison.  I  doubt  whether  a  month 
elapsed  in  which  I  was  not  there  while  it  was  in  its  crowded  condition — 
every  month  except,  perhaps,  during  March,  1865.  I  was  there  in  April,  1865. 
I  was  at  Andersonville  constantly;  nearly  every  month,  as  I  have  remarked. 
I  had  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing  the  condition  of  the  prisoners,  not  only 
from  the  adjacent  hills,  but  on  several  occasions  from  the  outside  of  the  stock 
ade  where  the  sentinels'  grounds  were.  I  had  opportunities  of  talking  at  differ 
ent  times  with  the  prisoners,  not  only  at  Andersonville,  but  after  they  escaped, 
in  several  instances,  when  they  came  to  my  house.  I  can  only  answer  the  ques 
tion  by  saying  that  their  condition  was  as  wretched  and  as  horrible  as  could 
well  be  conceived,  not  only  from  exposure  to  the  sun,  the  inclemency  of  weather, 
and  the  cold  of  winter,  but  from  the  filth,  from  the  absolute  degradation  which 
was  evident  in  their  condition.  I  have  seen  that  stockade  after  three  or  four 
days'  rain,  when  the  mud,  I  should  say,  was  at  least  twelve  inches  deep  on  both 
the  hills;  the  prisoners  were  walking  or  wading  through  that  mud.  The  con 
dition  of  the  stockade  perhaps  can  be  expressed  most  aptly  by  saying  that  in 
passing  up  and  down  the  railroad,  if  the  wind  was  favorable,  the  odor  from  the 
stockade  could  be  detected  at  least  two  miles. 

I  believe  I  am  familiar  with  the  surrounding  country.  That  section  of  south 
western  Georgia  is  well  supplied  with  mills,  both  grist-mills,  flour-mills  and  saw 
mills.  Between  Andersonville  and  Albany  (the  distance  by  railroad  being  I 
believe,  fifty  miles — there  is  railroad  communication)  there  are  five  saw-mills. 
One  of  them,  a  large  one,  is  owned  by  a  gentleman  named  Drew.  There  are 
four  others  of  considerable  capacity;  there  is  one  saw-mill  at  a  distance  of  six 
miles  from  Andersonville,  owned  by  Mr.  Stewart;  that  goes  by  steam.  There 
is  another  saw-mill  about  five  miles  from  Andersonville  that  goes  by  water. 
There  are  saw-mills  on  the  road  above  Andersonville.  As  for  grist-mills  there 
are  five  in  the  neighborhood  of  Andersonville,  the  farthest  off  being  at  a  dis 
tance,  I  should  think,  not  exceeding  ten  miles.  There  were  two  at  Americus, 
the  one  farthest  off  being  about  twelve  miles  distant.  Of  these  mills  the  water- 
mills  are  run  nearly  the  entire  year,  except  occasionally  in  the  summer  months; 
in  the  months  of  July  and  August  they  may  be  temporarily  suspended  owing 
to  the  want  of  water,  but  not  for  any  length  of  time. 

1  Record,  p.  355  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLERGYMEN  AND  OTHERS.  151 

It  is  a  very  heavily  timbered  country,  especially  in  the  region  adjoining  An 
dersonville;  it  may  be  termed  one  of  the  most  densely  timbered  countries  in  the 
United  States.  As  for  its  fertility,  southwestern  Georgia,  I  believe,  is  termed 
the  garden  of  America;  it  was  termed  the  garden  of  the  Confederacy,  as  having 
supplied  the  greater  part  of  the  provisions  of  the  rebel  army.  Our  section  of 
Georgia,  Sumter  County,  is  perhaps  not  as  rich  as  the  counties  immediately  con 
tiguous.  The  land  is  of  a  lighter  quality,  but  still  it  produces  heavily.  I  sup 
pose  that  the  average  of  that  land  would  be  one  bale  of  cotton  to  the  acre;  the 
wheat  would  average  about  six  bushels  to  the  acre.  The  average  of  corn 
throughout  the  county,  I  suppose,  would  be  about  eight  bushels  to  the  acre.. 
I  am  stating  the  general  average  of  the  whole  number  of  acres  in  the  county. 
We  have  land  in  that  county  that  will  produce  35  bushels  of  corn  to  the  acre; 
I  am  stating  the  general  average.  It  struck  me  that  there  was  an  uncommon 
supply  of  vegetables  in  1864.  Heretofore,  at  the  south,  there  has  been  but  little 
attention  paid  to  gardens  on  a  large  scale;  but  last  year  a  very  large  supply  of 
vegetables  was  raised,  as  I  understood,  for  the  purpose  of  being  disposed  of  at 
Andersonville.  .  .  . 

I  know  of  lumber  having  been  used  at  Andersonville.  I  was  there  during 
June  and  July  very  frequently,  at  the  time  when  Governor  Brown  had  called 
out  the  militia  of  the  State.  The  militia  of  southwestern  Georgia  were  stationed 
at  Andersonville,  and  their  tents  were  all  floored  with  good  lumber,  and  a  good 
many  shelters  of  lumber  were  put  up  by  the  soldiers.  I  noticed  a  good  many 
tents  that  were  protected  from  the  sun  by  boards.  There  seemed  to  be  no  want 
of  lumber  at  that  time  among  the  Confederate  soldiers. 

I  did  not  take  regular  thermometrical  observations  during  the  summer  of 
1864  and  the  winter  of  1864-65;  but  I  had  a  thermometer,  and  every  day,  some 
times  two  or  three  times  a  day,  I  examined  it.  I  generally  made  it  a  rule  to  look 
at  it  when  I  got  up  in  the  morning,  again  about  noon,  and  then  in  the  evening. 
So  far  as  I  remember,  the  range  of  the  thermometer  during  the  summer  of  1864 
was  very  high.  I  think  I  have  seen  it  as  high  as  110  degrees  in  the  shade. 
Once,  and  only  once,  I  put  the  thermometer  out  in  the  sun  on  an  extremely 
hot  day  in  June,  1864.  It  ranged  then,  if  my  memory  serves  me  aright,  127  to 
130  degrees  that  day.  Last  winter,  according  to  my  experience  during  more 
than  twenty-five  years'  residence  in  Georgia,  was  the  coldest  winter  we  have 
ever  had  there.  I  have  seen  the  thermometer  as  low  as  20  and  22  degrees 
above  zero — from  8  to  10  degrees  below  the  freezing-point;  one  night  it  was 
colder  than  that;  it  was  the  night  of  the  4th  of  January.  It  is  very  distinctly 
impressed  on  my  memory.  During  the  night  I  was  waked  up  by  my  wife,  who 
told  me  that  somebody  was  calling  in  front  of  my  house.  I  opened  the  side 
window  (it  was  excessively  cold)  and  asked  who  was  there.  A  voice  replied, 
"A  friend."  I  answered  that  I  had  no  friends  at  that  time  of  night,  and  very 
few  anyhow  in  that  country.  He  said  that  he  was  a  friend  of  mine  and  wanted 
to  come  near  the  fence  to  speak  to  me.  I  told  him  my  dog  would  bite  him  if 
he  came  to  the  fence;  he  then  approached  and  said  he  was  an  Andersonville 
prisoner,  and  asked  me,  calling  me  by  name,  if  I  lived  there.  I  told  him  that 
I  was  the  man  and  to  wait  a  moment.  I  dressed  myself,  went  out  and  chained 
my  dog,  and  brought  the  prisoner  in.  He  was  nearly  frozen;  he  could  hardly 


152  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

stand;  he  had  on  only  one  shoe,  and  that  was  a  poor  one,  and  had  a  stocking 
upon  the  other  foot.  He  was  clad  in  the  thin  army  flannel  of  the  United  States, 
badly  worn.  He  had  on  a  pair  of  light  blue  pantaloons  which  were  badly  worn. 
This  was  on  a  Wednesday  morning;  and  he  told  me  that  he  had  made  his  escape 
from  Andersonville  on  the  Saturday  previous,  that  he  had  been  apprehended 
and  taken  to  Americus,  where  he  had  made  his  escape  from  the  guard  the  night 
before,  and  was  directed  to  my  house  by  a  negro.  I  asked  him  if  he  was  not 
nearly  frozen;  he  said  he  was.  I  looked  at  the  thermometer  then  and  it  was 
eighteen  degrees  above  zero.  This  was  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning — be 
tween  one  and  two  o'clock. 

I  know  that  efforts  were  made  by  the  ladies  of  my  county  to  relieve  the 
prisoners  at  Andersonville;  at  one  time  a  general  effort  was  made.  All  that  I 
know  is,  that  a  gentleman  named  Mr.  Davies,  a  Methodist  presiding  elder,  ex 
erted  himself  to  induce  the  ladies  to  contribute  clothing  and  provisions  to  the 
Federal  hospital  at  Andersonville.  A  large  amount  of  provisions  was  collected, 
some  three  or  four  wagonloads,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  and  sent  up  there.  I 
believe  that  the  effort  failed.  First,  the  provost  marshal  refused  a  pass  to  carry 
the  provisions  to  the  hospital;  and  when  application  was  made  by  Dr.  Head, 
who  acted  as  the  spokesman  for  the  ladies,  to  General  Winder,  it  was  positively 
refused  to  them.  I  had  a  conversation  with  General  Winder  three  days  afterward 
The  same  matter  then  came  up.  General  Winder  stated,  accompanied  with  an 
oath,  that  he  believed  the  whole  country  was  becoming  "Yankee,"  and  that  he 
would  be  damned  if  he  would  not  put  a  stop  to  it ;  if  he  couldn't  one  way  he  would 
in  another.  I  remarked  that  1  did  not  think  it  was  any  evidence  of  "Yankee" 
or  Union  feeling  to  exhibit  humanity.  He  said  there  was  no  humanity  about 
it;  that  it  was  intended  as  a  slur  upon  the  Confederate  government  and  as  a 
covert  attack  on  him.  I  told  him  that  I  had  understood  it  was  done  at  his  re 
quest;  that  he  had  requested  Mr.  Davies  to  bring  this  thing  about.  He  said  it 
was  a  damned  lie;  that  he  had  not  requested  anything  of  the  kind;  that  for  his 
own  part,  he  would  as  lief  the  damned  Yankees  would  die  there  as  anywhere  else; 
that,  upon  the  whole,  he  did  not  know  that  it  was  not  better  for  them.  That 
was  his  language,  or  words  to  that  effect.  Captain  Wirz  was  not  present  at  that 
time.  My  wife  was  with  me  at  the  time.  There  were  other  ladies  present,  but  I 
don't  think  I  knew  any  of  them.  They  were  not  part  of  the  committee. 

Q.  In  what  way  did  General  Winder  speak  of  the  ladies  and  their  humane 
effort? 

A.  He  used  the  most  opprobrious  language  that  could  possibly  be  used, 
language  that  no  gentleman  could  listen  to,  especially  in  the  presence  of  his 
wife,  without  resenting  it  in  some  way — language  utterly  unfit  to  be  repeated 
in  the  presence  of  ladies.  It  was  an  intimation  that  he  could  very  easily  make 
loyal  women  of  them  by  putting  them  in  a  certain  condition  that  would  bring 
them  to  it. 

I  was  present  at  a  conversation  the  day  after  this  committee  of  ladies  failed. 
It  was  at  the  depot  at  Andersonville.  The  conversation  was  principally  carried 
on  between  the  provost  marshal,  Captain  Eeed 

Q.     Captain  or  Lieutenant  Eeed. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLERGYMEN  AND  OTHERS.  153 

A.  I  believe  we  used  to  call  him  captain.  He  might  have  been  a  lieutenant, 
probably.  He  was  the  only  Reed  there.  Captain  Wirz  and  R.  B.  Winder  were 
present.  There  were  three  or  four  officials  there;  I  cannot  recall  any  but  those. 
Lieutenant  Reed  observed  that  if  General  Winder  had  done  as  he  wanted,  they 
might  have  made  a  good  speculation  out  of  the  provisions  and  clothing  that 
the  ladies  had  brought;  that  he  proposed  they  should  be  confiscated,  but  the 
"Old  General"  would  not  do  it.  Wirz  remarked  that  if  he  had  his  way  he 
would  have  a  house  built  there,  and  all  the  ladies  should  be  put  in  it  for  certain 
purposes.  That  was  a  most  scandalous,  infamous  purpose,  which  I  do  not  wish 
to  repeat.  R.  B.  Winder's  remarks  were  a  general  concurrence.  I  don't  know 
that  he  said  anything  special  that  I  can  call  to  mind,  any  more  than  laughingly 
concurring  in  what  had  been  said. 

I  know  Turner,  who  had  the  hounds,  very  well;  his  name  was  Wesley  W.  Turner. 

Q.  What  did  you  ever  hear  him  say  as  to  his  duties  there  and  what  he  was 
receiving  ? 

A.  It  was  some  time  in  the  early  part  of  1864 — March  or  April,  I  think. 
He  had  purchased  a  piece  of  land  up  in  the  same  district  in  which  my  place  is. 
I  met  him  one  day  in  Americus  and  asked  him  if  he  was  going  to  settle  that 
land.  He  said  he  was  not;  that  he  was  making  more  money  now  than  anybody 
in  that  country.  I  inquired  how  he  was  making  it.  He  said  the  Confederate 
government  was  paying  him  for  keeping  hounds  to  catch  escaped  prisoners.  I 
asked  him  if  he  got  his  pay  from  Richmond.  He  said,  no,  he  did  not  trouble 
Richmond;  that  "Old  Captain  Wirz  was  his  paymaster."  I  asked  him  how  much 
he  received;  my  impression  is  that  he  did  not  tell  me  what  he  received.  He  told 
me  that  he  was  making  more  money  than  anybody  else  in  that  country;  better 
than  cultivating  ground.  That  was  early  in  the  history  of  that  prison,  I  think — 
during  March  or  April.  It  was  while  he  was  there  on  duty;  he  told  me  that  he 
then  had  a  pack  of  hounds  and  was  employed  there. 

I  know  W.  S.  Winder— "Sid.  Winder,"  as  he  is  called.  I  saw  him  at  the 
time  he  was  laying  out  the  prison.  Between  the  1st  and  15th  of  December,  1863, 
I  went  up  to  Andersonville  with  him  and  four  or  five  other  gentlemen,  out  of 
curiosity  to  see  how  the  prison  was  to  be  laid  out.  When  we  arrived  there  the 
limits  of  the  prison  had  all  been  marked.  They  were  then  digging  a  trench  to 
put  the  stockade  posts  in.  Workmen  were  busy  cutting  down  trees  in  and 
around  where  the  stockade  was.  In  the  course  of  conversation  I  inquired  of 
W.  S.  Winder  if  it  was  proposed  to  erect  barracks  or  shelter  of  any  kind  inside 
the  stockade. 

[Mr.  Baker  objected  to  the  reception  of  the  evidence,  on  the  ground  that  the 
matter  narrated  did  not  come  within  the  time  specified  in  the  charge.  The  court, 
after  deliberation,  overruled  the  objection.  The  witness  resumed:] 

I  asked  him  if  he  was  going  to  erect  barracks  or  shelter  of  any  kind.  He  replied 
that  he  was  not;  that  the  damned  Yankees  who  would  be  put  in  there  would  have 
no  need  of  them.  I  asked  him  why  he  was  cutting  down  all  the  trees,  and  sug 
gested  that  they  would  prove  a  shelter  to  the  prisoners,  from  .the  heat  of  the  sun 
at  least.  He  made  this  reply,  or  something  similar  to  it:  "That  is  just  what  I 
am  going  to  do;  I  am  going  "to  build  a  pen  here  that  will  kill  more  damned 
Yankees  than  can  be  destroyed  in  the  front."  Those  are  very  nearly  his  words  or 


154  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

equivalent  to  them.  That  was  before  a  stockade  was  erected  in  the  trench. 
Captain  E.  B.  Winder  came  there  to  the  post  ten  or  fifteen  days  after  that — I 
suppose  about  ten  days.  There  was  nothing  said  at  that  time  as  to  who  ordered 
W.  S.  Winder  there  to  lay  out  the  prison.  I  had  frequent  conversations  with 
General  Winder.  I  used  to  meet  him  very  frequently,  either  in  Americus  or  going 
up  the  railroad.  I  saw  him  a  good  many  times  at  Andersonville. 

Q.  What  was  the  general  temper  and  spirit  of  his  talk  with  regard  to  those 
prisoners  ? 

A.  The  opinion  that  I  formed  of  him  was  anything  but  creditable  to  his  feel 
ing,  his  humanity,  or  his  gentlemanly  bearing.  I  am  not  aware  that  I  ever  had 
a  conversation  with  General  Winder  in  which  he  did  not  curse  more  or  less, 
especially  if  the  subject  of  Andersonville  Prison  was  brought  up.  I  can  only 
reply  to  your  question  by  saying  that  I  considered  him  a  brutal  man.  That  I 
drew  from  his  conversation  and  conduct  as  I  observed  them.  I  looked  upon  him 
as  a  man  utterly  devoid  of  all  kindly  feeling  and  sentiment. 

Q.  How  generally,  so  far  as  you  observed,  were  the  sufferings  and  horrors  of 
the  Andersonville  pen  known  throughout  the  South? 

A.  So  far  as  my  knowledge  and  information  went,  the  knowledge  of  those 
sufferings  was  general;  it  was  so,  at  least,  throughout  the  southern  part  of  the 
Southern  States;  I  cannot  speak  specially  in  regard  to  the  neighborhood  of  Eich- 
mond.  The  matter  was  discussed  in  the  newspapers  constantly,  and  discussed  in 
private  circles.  Perhaps  I  might  have  heard  more  of  it  than  most,  because  it 
dwelt  more  on  my  mind;  but  it  was  a  general  subject  of  conversation  through 
out  the  entire  southern  part  of  the  Confederacy. 

I  went  south  twenty-five  years  ago  the  8th  day  of  last  month.  My  residence  is 
in  Sumter  County,  near  Americus.  It  is  a  village  or  town.  It  is  called  Americus. 
I  live  near  the  town.  I  have  lived  in  Sumter  County  for  nearly  twelve  years. 
I  have  been  a  teacher  most  of  the  time;  my  profession  is  that  of  a  lawyer.  I 
have  been  planting,  farming,  for  the  last  five  years,  most  of  the  time  on  my  own 
farm.  My  farm  is  two  lots;  there  are  two  hundred  acres  to  the  lot;  four  hun 
dred  acres  in  all.  When  I  speak  of  the  crops,  and  of  vegetables  there,  if  I 
judged  from  my  own  crops,  my  statement  would  be  unfavorable,  because  I  made 
a  very  poor  crop  that  year,  both  of  corn  and  vegetables.  I  do  not  judge  from 
my  own  crop.  The  testimony  I  have  given  is  what  I  have  seen  of  other  planta 
tions.  I  believe  I  have  travelled  during  the  last  two  years  almost  as  much  as  any 
body  has.  I  held  a  position  as  an  agent  to  collect  evidence  of  claims  against 
the  Confederate  States  government — to  establish  claims.  My  district  comprised 
thirteen  counties,  if  I  am  not  mistaken.  That  is  the  extent  of  the  district  over 
which  I  had  jurisdiction — within  which  I  received  and  established  claims  against 
the  Confederate  government.  I  was  appointed  by  General  Cooper,  adjutant  and 
inspector-general.  I  held  a  Confederate  office;  I  suppose  in  one  sense  I  may  be 
considered  as  having  held  a  Confederate  office.  I  had  no  commission;  it  was 
rather  an  agency.  I  travelled  all  through  those  thirteen  counties  constantly.  I 
travelled  mostly  with  my  own  buggy  and  horses;  whenever  I  had  occasion  to  go 
to  places  that  were  not  on  a  line  of  railroad,  in  Schley,  Webster,  Marion,  Chatta- 
hooche,  Stewart,  Thomas,  and  one  or  two  other  counties,  I  had  to.  travel  in  my 
own  conveyance.  When  I  went  to  Mushogee,  to  Columbus,  or  to  Oglethorpe,  or 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLERGYMEN  AND  OTHERS.  155 

down  to  Cuthbert,  or  to  Albany,  I  went  by  railroad.  I  did  not  say  I  visited  them 
several  times  during  the  last  year;  I  said  I  visited  each  one  of  those  counties 
at  least  twice,  and  some  of  them  oftener.  I  did  not  obtain  this  information  as  to 
the  crops  while  I  was  travelling.  I  did  not  say  anything  of  the  kind.  I  suppose 
a  part  of  my  information  was  obtained  in  that  way.  .  .  . 

I  know  of  four  or  five  saw-mills  in  that  vicinity.  There  is  one  located  about 
five  or  six  miles  below  Andersonville,  on  the  railroad.  Three  of  them  run  by 
water.  There  are  six  saw-mills  that  I  know  of.  I  cannot  say  that  I  visited 
them  during  the  summer  of  1864;  I  passed  by  all  of  them  frequently. 

Q.     Do  you  not  know  that  they  did  not  hardly  run  during  the  summer  of  1864? 

A-  No;  I  do  not  know  anything  of  the  kind.  I  know  they  did  run  during 
the  summer  of  1864.  It  is  more  than  I  can  say,  if  they  ran  all  the  time.  I 
have  seen  lumber  there.  I  have  seen  large  quantities  of  lumber  at  the  different 
mills;  for  instance,  at  Drew's  mill,  a  very  large  steam-mill,  I  have  constantly 
seen  the  railroad  on  each  side  of  it  lined  with  lumber.  I  do  not  know  who  that 
lumber  belonged  to;  at  the  mill  five  or  six  miles  below  Andersonville,  I  have 
seen  a  great  deal  of  lumber,  in  the  summer  of  1864.  I  do  not  know  that  the 
Confederate  government  pressed  that  lumber.  .  .  . 

I  was  not  concerned  with  those  ladies  at  Americus  in  getting  up  contributions 
for  the  prisoners. 

Q.     All  you  know  about  it  is  from  hearsay? 

A.  Well,  I  will  recall  that  answer.  My  wife  was  personally  concerned  in  get 
ting  up  the  thing.  I  contributed  towards  it.  It  was  in  February,  1865.  I 
believe  I  heard  of  efforts  being  made  in  1864.  I  know  nothing  about  it  myself. 
It  was  in  September,  1864,  that  I  had  the  conversation  with  General  Winder, 
at  which  Captain  Wirz  was  present.  It  was  during  1864  that  I  went  to  Ander 
sonville  so  often.  I  stated  in  my  direct  examination  that  I  was  not  there  so 
often  in  1865,  and  that  I  thought  I  was  not  there  at  all  in  April,  1865. 

TESTIMONY  OF  W.  A.  GRIFFIN. 

"W.  A.  Griffin  was  a  conductor  on  the  railroad  trains  from  Macon 
to  Eufaula,  passing  through  Andersonville.  His  testimony  went  to 
the  supply  of  transportation  and  opportunities  for  obtaining  lumber. 
He  testified:1 

I  reside  in  Nashville,  Tennessee.  During  the  last  eighteen  months  I  have  been 
conductor  on  the  Southwestern  railroad,  running  from  Macon,  Georgia,  to  Eufaula, 
Alabama,  passing  by  Andersonville,  Georgia. 

Q.  What  have  been  the  means  of  transportation  on  that  road  for  transporting 
materials  of  war,  provisions,  &c.? 

A.  We  had  sufficient  transportation,  I  believe,  generally  from  Maeon  to 
Eufaula. 

Q.     For  all  the  purposes  required? 

A.     As  a  general  thing,  I  believe  so. 

Q.     Did  you  run  both  on  passenger  and  freight  trains? 

A.  I  ran  a  few  trips  as  a  freight  train  conductor,  but  as  a  general  thing  I 
ran  passenger  trains. 

1  Record,  p.  330  et  seq. 


156  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

Q.  Were  you  ever  required  to  hold  over  freight  trains  for  many  trips  before 
you  were  well  able  to  carry  it? 

A.  I  knew  nothing  about  transportation  generally.  As  a  general  thing  the 
passenger  conductors  rode  down  one  day  and  back  the  next  day,  and  then  lay 
over  one  day. 

Q.     Did  you  observe  many  freight  trains  on  the  road? 

A.     Freight  trains  were  passing.     I  would  pass  them  day  in  and  day  out. 

Q.     Is  that  a  timbered  country? 

A.  There  are  any  amount  of  saw-mills  throughout  that  country  along  the  line 
of  the  road.  I  saw  divers  of  them. 

Q.     Was  lumber  being  hauled  over  the  road? 

A.  As  a  general  thing  there  were  lumber  mills  all  the  way  through  from 
Macon  to  Eufaula. 

Q.     Do  you  know  any  reason  why  lumber  could  not  be  carried  to  Andersonville? 

A.     I  do  not. 

TESTIMONY  OP  JAMES  VAN  VALKENBURG. 

James  Van  Valkenburg  testified  as  to  the  condition  of  the  crops  dur 
ing  the  year  1864  and  as  to  the  quantities  of  provisions  stored  at 
Macon.  He  testified:1 

I  reside  near  Macon,  Bibb  County,  State  of  Georgia.  I  have  lived  there  nine 
teen  years.  I  was  there  during  the  Eebellion.  I  have  been  at  Andersonville. 
So  far  as  I  know  the  crops  have  been  about  medium.  There  were  certain  sec 
tions  of  the  State  of  Georgia  last  year  that  suffered  considerable  from  drought, 
and  in  certain  other  portions  the  crops  were  exceedingly  good.  I  am  speaking 
of  the  year  1864.  I  should  suppose  as  to  provisions  it  was  more  than  an  average 
crop,  inasmuch  as  no  cotton  was  planted,  and  all  the  ground  was  pretty  well 
planted  in  provisions.  I  should  think  the  provision  crop  was  larger  than  before 
the  war.  The  regulation  in  the  South  requiring  farmers  and  others  to  pay  tithes 
for  what  they  grew  was,  that  they  were  to  bring  in  one-tenth  of  all  they  raised 
of  provisions  of  various  kinds,  corn  and  wheat  and  potatoes,  and  a  certain  pro 
portion  of  their  meat.  I  am  not  exactly  sure  what  proportion,  but  I  should 
think  about  the  same  ratio,  one-tenth.  Macon  is  about  sixty-five  miles  from 
Andersonville,  by  railroad.  It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  state  what  stores 
were  in  Macon  during  the  year  1864.  There  were  a  great  many  storehouses 
where  provisions  were  stored  of  various  kinds — sugar,  rice,  molasses,  meat  (bacon), 
corn,  wheat,  flour,  &c.  I  have  not  been  at  Americus  as  commonly  as  at  Macon, 
but  when  I  have  been  there,  there  seemed  to  be  very  large  quantities.  I  saw  a 
great  deal  of  stores  in  various  warehouses.  Americus  is  nine  miles  from  Ander 
sonville;  it  may  be  a  little  further  than  that;  it  is  possible  I  may  be  slightly 
mistaken  on  that  point. 

There  was  a  large  quantity  of  wheat  grown  in  that  section  of  the  country; 
some  near  Andersonville.  There  were  flour-mills  there;  I  could  not  say  how 
near  Andersonville.  I  know  there  were  flour-mills  around  there.  I  know  my 
son-in-law,  who  lives  in  Americus,  had  a  large  quantity  of  wheat  and  had  no 
difficulty  in  getting  it  ground.  He  told  me  he  raised  more  wheat  last  year  than 

1  Record,  pp.  106,  107. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLEEGYMEN  AND  OTHEES.  157 

ever  in  Ms  life  before.  Some  of  the  flour-mills  were  what  we  called  merchants' 
mills,  and  some  mills  doing  a  smaller  business,  merely  grinding  for  tolls.  I  do 
not  know  how  near  to  Andersonville  there  was  a  flour-mill.  I  know  there  was 
a  large  one  at  Macon.  Georgia  is  considered  a  corn-growing  country,  but  it  is 
generally  considered  a  good  country  for  wheat  also.  I  think  some  of  the  best 
wheat  that  is  raised  in  Georgia  is  raised  in  southwestern  Georgia.  Some  seasons 
it  does  not  do  so  well.  It  is  not  so  safe  a  crop  as  in  the  north  part  of  the  State, 
but  when  they  make  a  crop,  farmers  tell  me — I  am  not  a  farmer — it  is  better 
than  the  wheat  grown  in  the  northern  part.  I  do  not  know  how  often  they  make 
a  wheat  crop. 

TESTIMONY  OF  LIEUT.  J.  H.  WRIGHT. 

Lieutenant  J.  H.  Wright  of  the  Fifty-fifth  Georgia  Regiment,  was 
on  duty  at  Andersonville  from  February,  1864,  until  the  following 
February.  He  assisted  in  enlarging  the  stockade.  He  says  the  pris 
oners  themselves  did  the  work, — about  100  white  men  and  30 
negroes, — and  completed  it  in  a  little  over  three  weeks;  that  nothing 
was  required  for  the  work  but  axes,  spades,  and  shovels,  of  which 
there  were  plenty.  He  testified  i1 

The  extension  of  the  stockade  was  made  under  the  direction  of  Colonel  Per 
sons.  I  superintended  the  work  voluntarily.  The  prisoners  did  the  work  them 
selves.  I  think  I  had  about  one  hundred  white  men  and  thirty  colored  troops 
under  my  charge.  Those  hundred  men  were  prisoners  of  war — Union  soldiers. 
The  stockade  was  extended  about  eleven  acres,  if  I  remember  correctly;  about 
one-third  or  a  little  more.  If  I  remember  correctly,  the  original  stockade  was 
about  seventeen  acres,  and  it  was  extended  over  a  third.  It  took  a  little  over 
three  weeks,  I  think,  to  complete  the  job.  We  used  nothing  but  axes,  spades, 
and  shovels;  plenty  of  them  were  on  hand  at  the  time.  I  never  had  any 
want  of  them.  Captain  W.  S.  Winder  marked  out  the  prison  and  laid  it  out. 
I  made  requisitions  for  money  on  the  authorities  at  Eichmond  when  I  was 
quartermaster.  I  made  a  requisition  of  $75,000  to  pay  off  the  troops  that  were 
there  in  April,  1864.  In  our  service,  then,  the  quartermasters  did  the  duties 
of  paymasters.  That  money  came.  Captain  E.  B.  Winder  told  me  the  money 
was  sent  through  him  to  me,  and  that  he  had  used  the  money.  I  never  received 
that  money.  I  do  not  know  how  he  used  it;  he  merely  told  me  he  had  used  the 
money,  and  had  made  a  requisition  himself,  for  money,  and  that  when  he  received 
it  he  would  replace  the  $75,000,  which  he  did — a  portion  of  it  in  the  latter  part 
of  September.  Captain  E.  B.  Winder  told  me  that  he  had  no  orders  to  report 
to  any  quartermaster  at  all ;  that  he  reported  directly  to  Eichmond,  and  re 
ceived  his  instructions  from  Eichmond.  He  told  me  that  all  the  quartermasters 
in  that  vicinity  had  been  ordered  by  the  quartermaster-general  to  furnish  him 
what  supplies  he  needed — to  fill  his  requisitions.  While  I  was  there,  there  never 
was  any  difficulty  about  getting  negroes.  I  remember  the  time  the  engineer  came 
there  to  build  the  fortifications.  I  know  he  had  a  great  many  negroes;  I  do 
not  know  the  number.  This  was  in  July  or  August;  I  think  the  latter  part  of 

1  Record,  p.  406. 


158 


THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 


July.  I  succeeded  Captain  E.  B.  Winder — that  is,  I  was  left  there  temporarily 
until  a  man  could  be  sent  there.  He  left  there  in  October.  He  had  all  the  tools 
and  matters  of  that  kind,  in  his  possession,  sent  to  Millen,  and  all  the  transporta 
tion.  He  left  me  a  few  old  horses  and  ambulances  and  wagons.  I  had  to  go 
to  work  and  get  up  what  transportation  I  could  afterwards,  myself.  I  got  a  few 
old  broken-down  mules  from  the  convalescent  camp;  they  generally  commenced 
dying  in  a  few  days.  I  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  axes  when  I  made  requisition 
for  them.  Captain  Wirz  made  requisition  on  me  for  axes,  and  I  had  no  difficulty 
in  getting  them.  I  think  I  left  seventy-five  axes  there. 

TESTIMONY  OP  DR.   M.   M.   MARSH. 

Dr.  M.  M.  Marsh,  in  charge  of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commis 
sion  matters  in  Florida,  Georgia,  and  the  Carollnas,  gave  some  import 
ant  testimony  as  to  the  quantity  of  supplies  the  commission  endeavored 
to  send  to  Anderson ville.  The  pity  of  it  is  that  there  is  evidence  that 
few  of  these  supplies  ever  reached  the  prisoners.  He  testified:1 

For  the  last  two  or  three  years  I  have  had  charge  of  the  United  States  Sani 
tary  Commission  matters  in  the  States  of  Florida,  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas. 
I  was  so  employed  from  early  in  January,  1863,  till  the  close  of  the  Eebellion. 
I  was  stationed  at  Beaufort,  S.  C.  While  I  was  there,  we  received  sanitary 
stores  for  prisoners  in  the  custody  of  the  rebel  government  and  purchased  also 
of  a  United  States  quartermaster.  When  we  had  not  articles  from  other  sources 
we  purchased  from  United  States  quartermasters  for  that  purpose.  I  forwarded 
clothing  and  provisions,  sanitary  stores,  to  Andersonville,  Ga.,  for  the  use  of 
the  prisoners  there.  I  made  a  memorandum  of  the  amount  of  articles  sent  there, 
or  had  it  made. 

Q.     Look  at  the  paper  handed  you  and  state  if  that  is  the  memorandum. 

A.  That  is  it.  It  is  a  correct  list  of  stores  sent  to  Andersonville,  Ga.  Perhaps 
I  ought  to  remark  that  we  were  sending  to  five  other  points  at  the  same  time,  but 
in  making  out  the  lists  we  selected  only  those  things  that  were  put  down  in  our 
record  as  sent  to  Andersonville,  Georgia. 

[The  paper,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy,  was  offered  in  evidence  by  the 
judge  advocate  and  is  attached  to  the  record.] 

Stores  sent  to  Prisoners  at  Andersonville,  Georgia. 


5,052  wool  shirts. 
6,993  wool  drawers. 
3,950  handkerchiefs. 

601  cotton  shirts. 
1,128  cotton  drawers. 
2,100  blouses. 
4,235  wool  pants. 
1,520  wool  hats. 
2,565  overcoats. 
5,385  blankets. 

272  quilts 
2,120  pairs  shoes. 

110  cotton  coats. 

140  vests. 


46  cotton  pants. 
534  wrappers. 
69  jackets. 
12  overalls. 
817  pairs  slippers. 
3,147  towels. 
5,431  wool  socks. 

50  pillow  cases. 
258  bed  sacks. 
122  combs. 
100  tin  cups. 

2  boxes  tin  ware. 


4,092  pounds  condensed  milk. 
4,032  pounds  condensed  coffee. 
1,000  pounds  farina. 
1,000  pounds  corn  starch. 
4,212  pounds  tomatoes. 
24  pounds  chocolate. 
3  boxes  lemon  juice. 
1  barrel  dried  apples. 
Ill  barrels  crackers. 

60  boxes  cocoa. 
7,200  pounds  beef  stock. 
Paper,  envelopes,  &c. 
Pepper,  mustard. 
One  box  tea,  70  pounds. 


Record,  pp.  416,  417. 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLERGYMEN  AND  OTHERS.  159 

I  do  not  know  exactly  how  much  more  of  the  qualities  of  coffee  a  pound 
of  condensed  coffee  contains  than  a  pound  of  ordinary  coffee;  in  regard  to  the 
beef  stock,  one  pound  is  supposed  to  be  equal  to  seven  pounds  of  beef.  I  do 
not  know  about  the  coffee  and  milk,  but  I  think  one  pound  is  equal  to  five 
pounds  of  the  raw  article.  A  portion  of  these  articles  were  sent  in  the  month  of 
July;  but  a  small  portion  of  them.  We  began  to  send  them  quite  regularly  from 
about  the  10th  or  the  15th  of  August  up  to  about  the  1st  of  November,  1864. 
I  have  no  evidence  that  those  articles  were  ever  received  at  Andersonville;  all 
I  know  respecting  it  is  that  I  either  personally  or  through  some  agent — I  did 
not  do  it  myself  but  in  two  or  three  instances — passed  the  stores  over  to  some 
agent  deputed  by  the  Confederate  government  to  receive  them.  This  agent  of 
the  Confederate  government  usually,  not  always,  gave  a  receipt  for  the  articles, 
with  a  promise  on  my  part  that  I  should  return  that  receipt  when  he  obtained 
a  receipt  from  the  persons  to  whom  he  delivered  them;  if  the  things  were  sent 
to  a  prisoner  personally,  why  he  returned  that  prisoner's  receipt,  or  if  he  delivered 
them  to  the  quartermaster,  he  handed  me  the  quartermaster's  receipt,  and  when 
he  did  that  I  returned  him  his  receipt.  That  was  done  in  many  cases.  I  do 
not  know  about  his  authority;  I  know  that  I  returned  his  receipt  to  him  when 
he  produced  a  receipt  from  some  party  to  whom  he  had  delivered  the  articles. 
That  was  not  always  the  case,  however;  once  or  twice  some  of  the  agents  who 
were  sent  refused  to  give  receipts;  they  said  they  would  transmit  the  articles 
but  they  would  not  give  receipts.  It  was  a  matter  we  cared  very  little  about. 
For  instance,  Colonel  Waddy,  on  one  or  two  occasions,  I  know  of  one  certainly, 
refused  to  give  a  receipt.  He  was  a  rebel  agent.  I  refer  now  to  the  men  who 
were  deputed  by  the  Confederate  authorities  to  receive  the  things;  sometimes 
one  man  was  deputed  to  receive  it  and  sometimes  another. 

TESTIMONY  OF  AUGUSTUS  MOESNER. 

Augustus  Moesner,  of  Company  G,  Sixteenth  Connecticut  Volun 
teers,  was  called  as  a  witness  for  the  prisoner.  He  entered  the  stock 
ade  on  May  3,  1864,  but  was  on  May  24th  detailed  as  a  clerk  in  Wirz's 
office.  A  portion  of  his  testimony  should  be  read  in  connection  with 
that  of  Dr.  Marsh,  the  agent  of  the  Sanitary  Commission.  Moesner 
was  in  a  position  to  know  something  about  the  supplies  that  reached 
the  prison  from  the  North.  He  testified  r1 

I  have  been  a  member  of  Company  G,  16th  Connecticut  Volunteers.  I  was 
captured  April  20,  1864,  and  taken  to  Andersonville.  I  arrived  there  on  the 
3d  of  May,  in  the  evening.  On  our  arrival  we  were  kept  under  guard,  and  next 
morning  Captain  Wirz  came  to  the  place  with  several  of  his  sergeants  and  we 
were  counted  off  in  squads  and  sent  down  to  the  stockade.  I  remained  in  the 
stockade  up  to  the  24th  of  May,  1864.  I  was  taken  as  a  paroled  prisoner  to 
Captain  Wirz's  office  as  a  clerk. 

1  Record,  p.   506. 


160  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

As  far  as  I  recollect  we  got  boxes  from  the  North  three  times.  The  first 
boxes  we  received  came  in  May,  1864.  I  was  just  at  that  time  in  the  stockade  yet, 
but  I  recollect  very  well  when  those  boxes  were  brought  in.  Those  boxes  were 
boxes  sent  from  the  friends  of  prisoners  and  not  from  the  Sanitary  Commission. 
The  boxes  were  brought  into  the  stockade  and  every  one  who  received  a  box 
had  to  sign  a  receipt.  Many  things  in  those  boxes  were  spoilt  because  they 
had  been  a  long  time  on  the  road.  A  Union  sergeant  close  to  my  tent  received 
a  box  and  signed  for  it.  A  few  days  afterwards  I  was  paroled  and  came  out, 
and  we  had  close  to  our  office  a  shanty  where  some  provisions  for  the  hospital 
were  kept.  I  saw  many  boxes  in  there.  I  asked  one  of  the  clerks  "what  kind 
of  boxes  those  were,"  and  he  told  me  that  those  were  boxes  for  prisoners  who 
could  not  be  found  or  who  had  died.  The  things  in  those  boxes  were  turned  over 
to  the  hospital  and  the  Confederate  hospital  steward  divided  them.  They  were 
in  his  charge  and  he  from  day  to  day  sent  some  of  the  things  in  the  boxes  down 
to  the  hospital.  The  second  time  we  got  boxes  was  in  August.  We  got  at  this 
time  only  a  few  boxes.  Lieutenant  Davis  was  in  command  of  the  camp.  We  got 
about  sixty  or  seventy  pairs  of  pants,  about  100  blouses,  100  caps,  and  fifty  pairs 
of  shoes.  I  myself  got  a  whole  suit  at  this  time.  Lieutenant  Davis  gave  all  that 
clothing  to  the  men  who  were  outside  at  work. 

Q.     What  reason  did  he  assign  for  doing  that? 

A.  We  had  at  that  time  about  32,000  or  33,000  prisoners  in  the  stockade, 
and  he  said  it  was  no  use  to  send  the  clothes  inside,  because  it  would  not  make 
but  a  single  piece  to  one  squad  and  it  would  only  make  trouble  inside,  and  per 
haps  there  might  be  some  fighting,  so  he  gave  it  to  the  men  outside  at  work. 
The  third  and  last  time  I  recollect  that  we  got  some  boxes  was  in  the  first  part 
of  November,  1864.  We  got  about  300  blankets  and  300  pairs  of  pants.  They 
were  what  are  known  as  citizens'  pants,  brown  and  gray,  a  mixed  color,  and  we 
got  gray  shirts  arid  gray  drawers  and  stockings,  but  only  fifty  pairs  of  shoes. 

I  have  endeavored  to  this  point  in  the  narrative  of  facts  to  conduct 
the  reader  through  the  prison-pen  and  its  so-called  hospital  tardily,  if 
not  reluctantly,  established  outside  the  stockade.  The  evidence  is  of 
the  highest  and  most  convincing  character,  for  substantially  all  of  it 
is  from  sources  which  do  not  admit  of  dispute,  and  much  of  it  consists 
of  contemporaneous  official  records  and  reports  which  once  constituted 
part  of  the  archives  of  the  Confederacy.  They  passed  under  the 
scrutiny  of  some  of  the  higher  officials  at  Richmond  and,  we  are 
forced  by  the  evidence  to  conclude,  were  known  in  all  their  horrifying 
details  to  the  head  of  the  Confederacy.  We  have  a  right  from  this 
array  of  proofs  to  conclude  that  the  conditions  at  Andersonville  were 
well  known  by  the  governing  powers  at  Richmond  from  the  inception 
of  the  prison-pen  throughout  all  its  dark  and  repelling  history.  The 


TESTIMONY  OF  CLERGYMEN  AND  OTHERS.  161 

indifference,  not  to  speak  of  any  sinister  design,  with  which  these 
evidences  of  human  suffering  were  treated  will  forever  remain  a  black 
and  ineradicable  stain  upon  the  Confederacy. 

Colonel  Chandler's  report,  aside  from  others  of  similar  import  pre 
viously  and  subsequently  made,  was  in  itself  sufficient  to  have  brought 
some  relief  to  this  mass  of  suffering  and  dying  soldiers  had  there  been 
any  disposition  to  extend  relief.  Here  are  some  of  the  facts  which 
were  pressed  upon  the  attention  and  the  eyes  of  the  officials  who  had 
the  power  to  act,  but  who  did  absolutely  nothing  to  ameliorate  the 
wretchedness  of  that  death-pit.  Colonel  Chandler  thus  spoke  to  his 
superiors  at  Richmond:1 

There  is  no  medical  attendance  provided  within  the  stockade.  Small  quantities 
of  medicines  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  certain  prisoners  of  each  squad  or  division, 
and  the  sick  are  directed  to  be  brought  out  by  sergeants  of  squads  daily,  at  "sick 
call,"  to  the  medical  officers  who  attend  at  the  gate.  The  crowd  at  these  times  is 
so  great  that  only  the  strongest  can  get  access  to  the  doctors,  the  weaker  ones 
being  unable  to  force  their  way  through  the  press;  and  the  hospital  accommoda 
tions  are  so  limited  that  though  the  beds  (so  called)  have  all  or  nearly  all  two 
occupants  each,  large  numbers  who  would  otherwise  be  received  are  necessarily  sent 
back  to  the  stockade.  Many — twenty  yesterday — are  carted  out  daily,  who  have 
died  from  unknown  causes  and  whom  the  medical  officers  have  never  seen.  The 
dead  are  hauled  out  daily  by  the  wagon  load,  and  buried  without  coffins,  their  hands 
in  many  instances  being  first  mutilated  with  an  axe  in  the  removal  of  any  finger 
rings  they  may  have.  The  sanitary  condition  of  the  prisoners  is  as  wretched  as 
can  be,  the  principal  causes  of  mortality  being  scurvy  and  chronic  diarrhoea,  the 
percentage  of  the  former  being  disproportionately  large  among  those  brought  from 
Belle  Isle.  Nothing  seems  to  have  been  done,  and  but  little  if  any  effort  made  to 
arrest  it  by  procuring  proper  food.  The  ration  is  one-third  pound  of  bacon  and 
one  and  one-fourth  pound  unbolted  corn  meal,  with  fresh  beef  at  rare  intervals, 
and  occasionally  rice. 2  When  to  be  obtained — very  seldom — a  small  quantity  of 
molasses  is  substituted  for  the  meat  ration.  A  little  weak  vinegar  unfit  for  use  has 
sometimes  been  issued.  The  arrangements  for  cooking  and  baking  have  been 
wholly  inadequate,  and  though  additions  are  now  being  completed  it  will  still  be 
impossible  to  cook  for  the  whole  number  of  prisoners.  Raw  rations  have  to  be 
issued  to  a  very  large  proportion,  who  are  entirely  unprovided  with  proper  utensils 
and  furnished  so  limited  a  supply  of  fuel  they  are  compelled  to  dig  with  their 
Tiands  in  the  filthy  marsh  before  mentioned  for  roots,  etc.  No  soap  or  clothing 
has  ever  been  issued.  After  inquiring,  I  am  confident  that  by  slight  exertions 
green  corn  and  other  anti-scorbutics  could  readily  be  obtained.  I  herewith  hand 
two  reports  of  Chief  Surgeon  White,  to  which  I  would  respectfully  call  your  atten 
tion.  The  present  hospital  arrangements  were  only  intended  for  the  accommodation 

1  Record,  p.  225. 

J  Unbolted   cornmepl  is  meal   from  corn  ground  with  the  husk  still  remaining,   which  acted 
as  an  irritant.     See  Surgeon  Jones'  report. 


162  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

of  the  sick  of  10,000  men,  and  are  totally  insufficient,  both  in  character  and  extent, 
and  the  present  needs;  the  number  of  prisoners  being  now  more  than  three  times 
as  great,  the  number  of  cases  requiring  medical  treatment  is  in  an  increased  ratio. 
It  is  impossible  to  state  the  number  of  sick,  many  dying  within  the  stockade,  whom 
the  medical  officers  never  see  or  hear  of  until  their  remains  are  brought  out  for 
interment.  The  rate  of  death  has  been  steadily  increased  from  37  4-10  per  mil. 
during  the  month  of  March  last  to  62  7-10  per  mil.  in  July. 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS,  PRISONERS  AT  ANDERSONVILLE — THEIR  DESCRIP 
TIONS  OF  THE  HORRORS  OF  THAT  PRISON  PEN — PERSONAL  EXPERIENCES — 
MEN  FIGHT  FOR  BOOM  TO  LIE  DOWN — PRIVATE  PROPERTY  TAKEN  FROM  THEM 
— TESTIMONY  OF  MAJOR-GENERAL  J.  H.  WILSON  AND  COLONEL  GEORGE  WELL 
ING  OF  THE  U.  S.  ARMY  ON  CONDITION  OF  PRISON  AT  CLOSE  OF  THE  WAR — 
SIMPLE  KEMEDIES  POINTED  OUT — GENERAL  WILSON  CONCLUDES  THAT  THERE 
WAS  SINISTER  DESIGN  IN  THE  LOCATION  AND  ITS  EESTRICTED  AREA — GOLDWIN 
SMITH'S  OPINION  OF  TREATMENT  OF  PRISONERS  ON  BOTH  SIDES — GENERAL 
SHERMAN  FOUND  SUPPLIES  ABUNDANT  IN  GEORGIA  IN  1864. 


IF,  upon  the  principal  issues  now  being  examined,  namely:  "Were 
the  prisoners  in  large  numbers  starved  to  death  1  Were  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  survivors  and  the  death  of  their  comrades  preventable? 
Upon  whom  rests  the  responsibility? — the  reader  feels  constrained  to 
find  against  the  prisoner  and  his  confederates,  let  it  be  remembered 
that  to  this  point  in  the  narrative  every  witness  except  Dr.  Marsh  of  the 
Sanitary  Commission  and  witness  Moesner  has  been  either  officer  or 
soldier  in  the  rebel  service,  or  a  resident  of  the  so-called  Confederate 
States.  With  the  single  possible  exception  of  Mr.  Ambrose  Spencer 
and  the  two  already  named,  not  a  witness  thus  far  has  spoken  who  was 
not  presumably  either  in  sympathy  with  the  rebellion  or  had  joined 
it  in  obedience  to  the  pressure  of  local  conditions.  In  any  event, 
there  is  nothing  in  the  testimony  of  these  numerous  witnesses  to  sug 
gest  bias  against  the  Confederacy  or  its  government.  And  what  a 
picture  of  needless  human  suffering  is  shown ! 

But  I  am  unwilling  that  the  story  of  these  barbarities  should  rest 
alone  upon  the  testimony  already  presented.  The  world  has  the 
right  to  hear  from  the  lips  of  the  sufferers  themselves  what  they 
endured  and  the  cause  of  that  suffering. 

There  were  about  one  hundred  witnesses  of  this  class.  Their  tes 
timony  upon  specific  acts  of  cruelty  to  which  prisoners  were  subjected 
will  appear  in  subsequent  chapters.  At  this  place  there  will  be  given 
the  testimony  of  some,  but  by  no  means  all,  upon  the  points  now  the 
subject  of  our  inquiry. 


164  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

TESTIMONY   OF   ROBERT   H.   KELLOGG. 

Robert  H.  Kellogg  was  among  the  more  intelligent  witnesses  called 
by  the  prosecution.  His  veracity  is  conceded  by  the  prisoner,  who 
called  him  for  the  defense. 

He  testified  i1 

I  was  at  Andersonville,  Georgia;  I  entered  there  on  the  3d  day  of  May,  1864, 
and  left  there  on  the  10th  of  September  of  the  same  year;  I  went  with  a  body  of 
prisoners ;  I  think  there  were  some  four  hundred  of  us ;  I  was  taken  from  Plymouth, 
North  Carolina,  to  Andersonville  by  railroad. 

I  We  entered  the  prison  on  the  3d  of  May,  1864;  we  were  the  first  captures  of  the 
campaign.  When  we  entered  the  prison  there  were  no  men  there  but  old  prisoners 
who  had  been  removed  from  Belle  Island,  Libby  Prison,  and  other  places  to  that 
point.  They  were  ragged,  nearly  destitute  of  clothing,  and  many  of  them  were 
nearly  naked ;  they  were  totally  unprovided  with  shelter,  with  the  exception  of  that 
•which  tattered  blankets  could  afford  them.  They  looked  nearly  starved;  they  were 
skeletons  covered  with  skin.  The  prison  at  that  time  was  very  crowded,  at  least  it 
appeared  so  to  us  then,  although  there  were  thousands  brought  there  after  that. 
We  were  all  led  in  by  a  rebel  sergeant  and  showed  a  place  near  the  brook,  which 
we  were  told  would  be  our  place,  and  where  we  were  to  stay;  we  were  to  fall  in 
'there  every  morning  for  roll-call.  There  was  no  shelter  provided  for  us  at  that  time, 
or  at  any  other  time  while  we  were  in  the  prison.  We  were  fortunate  enough  to 
be  allowed  to  retain  our  blankets,  and  with  them  we  erected  shelters  which 
protected  us  from  the  herat  of  the  sun,  but  not  from  the  rain.  They  did  protect  us 
from  the  rain  for  a  few  days,  but  soon  they  became  so  worn  as  to  be  utterly 
useless  against  the  rain.  The  men  were  in  a  very  filthy  condition;  indeed,  they 
had  very  poor  opportunities  for  keeping  clean.  There  were  but  two  issues  of  soap 
made  to  the  prison  while  I  was  there,  from  May  to  September,  and  men  who 
-were  cooking  over  their  little  fires  with  pitch-pine  knots  would  get  smoky  and 
dirty  and  would  not  be  able  to  get  off  the  dirt  with  mere  water.  When  we  first 
went  there  the  nights  were  very  cold  indeed;  that  soon  passed  away  as  the  season 
advanced,  and  during  the  summer  it  was  intensely  hot.  I  made  a  memorandum  of 
the  rainy  days  while  there.  There  were  twenty-one  rainy  days  in  the  month  of 
June.  When  my  regiment  went  there  the  men  were  healthy;  after  that  they 
gradually  sickened,  until  I  remember  one  morning  at  roll-call,  out  of  my  ninety  men, 
there  were  thirty-two  who  were  not  able  to  stand  up  when  the  rebel  sergeant  came 
to  call  the  roll.  They  were  unable  to  stand  up  principally  from  scurvy  and 
diarrhoea;  there  were  a  great  many  of  the  men  who  had  their  limbs  contracted 
and  swollen  so  that  they  couldn't  stand  up.  It  was  on  the  21st  of  August,  and 
Ve  got  there  on  the  3d  of  May.  A  number  of  the  men  of  my  squad  of  ninety 
had  died  at  that  time,  but  the  vacancies  had  been  filled  by  new  arrivals.  Of 
the  four  hundred  men  captured  with  me,  nearly  three  hundred  are  dead.  They 
died  in  the  prison  or  a  few  days  after  being  paroled;  and  that  is  a  larger  per- 
•centage  of  living  than  there  was  in  many  a  regiment.  The  Twenty-fourth  New 
York  Battery,  which  was  captured  at  Plymouth,  was  nearly  annihilated.  I  have 


1  Record,  p.  61  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIEKS.  166 

seen  Captain  Wirz  in  the  prison  frequently.  He  usually  came  in  more  often  than 
otherwise  mounted  on  horseback.  He  would  ride  inside  the  dead  line  and  examine 
the  prison.  I  never  heard  him  give  any  orders.  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  saw 
him  perpetrate  any  acts  of  cruelty  on  the  men — not  to  my  personal  observation^ 
I  was  in  the  stockade  all  the  time;  I  did  not  go  out  of  it  with  the  exception  of  few 
times  for  wood. 

I  recollect  the  dead-line  there.  I  do  not  know  what  the  orders  were  in  relation 
to  it,  but  I  know  that  the  effect  of  trespassing  upon  it  was  death.  I  have  seefl 
the  penalty  enforced — I  have  seen  sentries  shoot.  I  cannot  say  that  I  saw  men  di£ 
from  gunshot  wounds  by  sentries  there.  I  saw  a  man  who  had  been  shot.  He 
was  not  dead  then.  I  do  not  know  that  he  died.  I  do  not  know  in  what  part  of 
the  body  he  was  shot.  I  saw  him  carried  on  a  stretcher  to  the  hospital.  He  was 
a  cripple,  or  one-legged  man.  I  heard  the  report  of  a  gun.  It  was  near  the 
entrance-gate  to  the  prison.  I  went  up  there,  and  I  saw  the  man  being  carried 
to  a  ward  in  the  hospital,  which  was  then  inside  the  prison.  It  had  not  been 
removed  outside  then.  There  were  other  cases  of  shooting  by  sentinels.  I  came 
near  being  shot  myself  once.  I  have  seen  sentinels  shoot  at  other  times  than  the 
time  I  have  spoken  of.  It  was  the  second  day  after  my  entering  the  prison — the 
5th  of  May.  Some  men  had  escaped  from  the  prison  the  night  previous,  by  means 
of  a  tunnel,  and  the  orders  that  morning,  at  roll-call,  were  very  strict  indeed. 
They  tried  to  ascertain  from  what  squad  the  men  had  gone.  We  understood  the 
order  to  be  that  no  one  should  cross  the  swamp.  I  understood  .the  orders  to  be 
that  if  any  one  crossed  from  one  side  of  the  prison  to  the  other,  across  the  swamp, 
he  would  be  shot.  My  squad  had  had  its  place  assigned 'to  it  by  the  side  of  the 
brook,  and  but  a  few  feet  from  it.  I  thought  that  it  would  be  no  violation  of  the 
order  to  step  to  the  side  of  the  brook,  and  wash  my  hands.  I  did  so.  I  sat  by 
the  side  of  the  brook,  and  suddenly  the  boys  gave  a  cry  of  warning,  and  I  heard 
a  gun  snap.  I  looked  up,  and  saw  that  the  sentinel  On  the  stockade  had  leveled 
his  piece  at  me,  and  fired;  but  the  piece  had  missed.  I  immediately  got  away 
from  that  vicinity.  I  was  not  fired  at  on  any  other  occasion.  I  never  heard  any 
threats  made  to  shoot  men.  I  have  seen  sentries  fire  from  the  sentry  posts  at  mem 
I  have  seen  them  firing  at  men  who  were  dipping  water  out  of  the  brook,  just 
under  the  dead-line.  I  remember,  one  afternoon,  seeing  a  sentry  fire  his  piece 
at  a  man  in  that  way.  I  do  not  recollect  whether  the  man  was  killed  or  not  that 
day.  I  could  not  swear  that  anybody  was  hit  that  day.  Shooting  by  sentries  was 
a  frequent  occurrence;  so  that,  after  a  while,  we  did  not  notice  it  so  much  as  we 
did  when  we  first  went  there. 

Our  supply  of  fuel  was  not  regular,  nor  sufficient.  We  were  allowed,  several 
times,  to  go  out  under  guards — six  men  from  a  squad  of  ninety,  or  eighteen  men 
from  a  detachment  of  two  hundred  and  seventy — to  bring  in  what  we  could  find 
in  the  woods,  on  our  shoulders;  but  the  quarter  part  of  the  time  we  had  to  rely 
upon  our  supply  of  roots,  which  we  dug  out  of  the  ground,  or  grubbed  for  in  the 
swamp — pitch-pine  roots.  I  mean  the  swamp  in  the  stockade.  We  dried  them,  and 
made  fuel  of  them.  Part  of  the  time  rations  were  issued  raw,  and  part  not;  many 
times  when  there  were  raw  rations  issued  there  was  no  fuel  issued  for  them! 
The  squad  of  ninety  men  of  which  I  was  a  sergeant  went  from  the  30th  of  June  to 
the  30th  of  August  without  any  issue  of  wood  from  the  authorities. 


166  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  A1STDEKSONVILLE. 

The  most  of  the  men  had  to  depend  on  the  brook  for  their  water,  and  that,  at 
many  times,  was  exceedingly  filthy.  I  have  seen  it  completely  covered,  almost, 
with  floating  grease,  and  dirt,  and  offal.  I  have  gone  in  barefoot,  when  it  was  so 
dirty  that  I  had  to  go  out,  as  I  was  getting  all  over  with  grease  and  filth.  It  was 
not  always  so,  but  very  frequently  so.  They  had  to  depend  on  the  stream  for 
water,  because  it  was  all  they  had,  except  that,  after  they  had  been  there  some 
time,  they  dug  some  wells ;  and  there  were  some  springs  along  the  south  side  of  the 
prison,  by  the  edge  of  the  hill,  near  the  swamp,  but  the  supply  from  that  source 
was  entirely  inadequate.  It  supplied  the  wants  of  a  few. 

The  quality  of  the  rations,  as  a  general  thing,  was  poor.  The  quantity  greatly 
varied,  so  far  as  my  observation  went.  There  were  days  when  we  got  nothing  at  all. 
I  made  a  note  of  at  least  two  such  days,  and  have  the  dates  here.  There  were  other 
days  when  we  got  but  very  little.  There  were  other  days  when  we  got  enough,  such 
as  it  was.  There  seemed  to  be,  somehow,  great  irregularity  in  the  rations.  I  do 
not  know  how  to  account  for  it. 

TESTIMONY  OP  BOSTON  CORBETT. 

Boston  Corbett  was  one  of  the  prisoners.  He  is  the  person  who  shot 
Wilkes  Booth,  President  Lincoln's  assassin.  Corbett  was,  I  believe,  a 
religious  enthusiast,  but  his  credibility  was  in  no  wise  assailed. 

He  testified  i1 

I  have  been  in  the  United  States  service  the  most  of  the  past  four  years;  I  was 
captured  near  Centreville,  Virginia,  and  conveyed  to  Andersonville,  Georgia;  I 
arrived  there  12th  of  July,  1864. 

Before  we  entered  the  stockade  we  remained  in  front  of  the  headquarters  for 
some  time,  to  be  told  off  in  detachments,  numbering  270,  divided  into  90's;  while 
there  I  was  excessively  thirsty,  and  asked  a  man  who  was  there  near  Captain  Wirz's 
headquarters  (in  some  small  tents)  for  a  drink  of  water;  the  reply  was  that  he 
dare  not  give  it  to  me ;  he  was  not  a  guard ;  he  was  one  of  our  own  prisoners ;  there 
were  a  good  many  of  them  outside,  on  their  parole  of  honor.  Another  man  in  the 
squad  was  sick,  and  he  reported  himself  to  a  lieutenant  of  the  guard,  and  asked 
if  he  could  not  be  sent  to  the  hospital,  or  have  some  medical  treatment;  the  officer 
told  him  no,  that  nothing  could  be  done  for  him  till  the  morrow,  and  that  he  must 
go  into  the  stockade  with  the  rest  of  us.  After  entering  the  stockade,  I  found 
nine  men  of  my  own  company  there,  who  had  been  taken  to  that  place  some  three 
and  a  half  months  previously;  eight  of  them  were  inside,  and  one  had  been  taken 
to  the  hospital  outside;  I  did  not  see  him  but  knew  of  his  being  there;  within 
two  months'  time  six  out  of  those  nine  men  died;  and  before  I  left  the  stockade, 
out  of  fourteen,  including  five  who  were  captured  with  me,  there  were  twelve  dead; 
but  two  of  us  returned  alive.  The  prison  was  very  horrible  on  account  of  the 
filthy  condition  of  it;  the  swamp  which  runs  on  each  side  of  the  small  stream 
that  runs  through  the  stockade  was  so  offensive,  and  the  stench  from  it  was  so 
great,  that  I  remember  the  first  time  I  went  down  there  I  wondered  that  every 
man  in  the  place  did  not  die  from  the  effects  of  the  stench,  and  I  believe  that  that 

1  Record,  p.  69  et  seq. 


> 


[Frnin  a  sketch  mode  at  the  time  by  B,  K.  Sneden.} 
VIEW    FROM    THE    OUTSIDE    OF    THE    SOUTH    GATE 


(From  an  old  photograph. ) 


DIVIDING   SQUAD    RATIONS   BY   NUMBER 


168  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

was  the  cause  of  the  death  of  a  great  many  of  our  men;  it  was  a  living  mass  of 
putrefaction  and  filth;  there  were  maggots  there  a  foot  deep  or  more;  any  time 
we  turned  over  the  soil  we  could  see  the  maggots  in  a  living  mass;  the  soldiers 
were  not  compelled  in  all  cases  to  wade  through  it  to  get  to  the  stream;  in  some 
cases  I  have  seen  them  wading  through  it  digging  for  roots.  Having  no  fuel 
allowed  to  us  for  a  considerable  length  of  time  we  were  obliged  to  go  there 
for  the  purpose  of  digging  for  roots;  those  roots,  in  one  day's  exposure  to  the 
sun,  became  thoroughly  dried,  and  the  next  day  we  could  use  them  for  fuel;  this 
was  necessary  because  they  did  not  furnish  us  with  the  necessary  wood  for  cooking 
purposes.  In  September  or  October,  a  large  number  of  men  were  taken  from  the 
stockade  to  work  outside,  perhaps  two  or  three  hundred  or  more ;  they  worked  upon 
a  building  southward  from  the  stockade  outside  of  it;  what  the  building  was  for 
I  cannot  say,  although  it  was  said  it  was  to  be  a  hospital;  but  I  know  very  well  if 
the  same  number  of  men  had  been  employed  in  procuring  wood  outside  they  might 
have  built  quarters  inside  to  protect  us  from  the  weather;  it  was  the  night  rains 
which  brought  on  sickness;  we  had  no  protection  from  the  rain  or  the  sun;  I  was 
willing  to  go  outside  and  work;  I  would  have  been  glad  of  the  chance;  that  was 
the  general  feeling  among  all  the  prisoners ;  I  know  it  was  the  general  desire  to  go 
out;  we  had  no  opportunity  to  talk  with  Captain  Wirz  about  it. 

I  have  seen  around  the  swamp  the  sick  in  great  numbers,  lying  in  a  line 
pretty  much  as  soldiers  lie  when  they  lie  down  to  rest  in  line  after  a  march. 
Going  down  in  the  morning  to  the  stream  for  water,  I  could  see  here  and  there 
those  who  had  died  during  the  night,  and  in  the  daytime  I  could  see  them  ex 
posed  to  the  heat  of  the  sun,  with  their  feet  swelled  to  an  enormous  size, 
and  in  many  cases  large  gangrenous  sores,  without  bandages  to  cover  them, 
and  the  sores  filled  with  maggots  and  flies,  which  they  were  unable  to  keep  off. 
I  have  seen  men  lying  there  in  a  state  of  utter  destitution,  not  able  to  help 
themselves,  lying  in  their  own  filth.  They  generally  chose  that  place — those  who 
were  most  offensive — because  others  would  drive  them  away,  not  wanting  to  be 
near  those  who  had  sores.  Others  chose  it  because  of  its  being  so  near  to  the 
sinks.  That  was  the  place  where  the  worst  cases  generally  were.  In  one  case 
a  man  died  there,  I  am  satisfied,  from  the  effects  of  lice.  When  the  clothes  were 
taken  off  his  body  the  lice  seemed  as  thick  as  the  garment — a  living  mass.  Our 
food  was  very  insufficient.  Even  when  a  sergeant  of  a  detachment  received  his 
double  ration,  it  was  not  enough  for  him.  A  sergeant  in  charge  of  ninety  men 
received  a  double  ration  for  his  trouble  in  calling  the  roll,  reporting  the  sick,  &c. 
During  the  first  month  of  my  imprisonment  there  the  sick  were  reported,  and  in 
some  cases  they  received  medicine.  During  the  latter  part  of  my  imprisonment 
they  received  no  medicine  whatever.  I  believe  no  medicine  was  given  inside  the 
stockade  during  the  last  six  weeks  or  two  months;  during  that  time  I  myself  was 
very  sick.  The  doctor  would  come  around  and  look  at  us  at  times.  The  only 
thing  he  ever  gave  us  in  the  way  of  medicine  was  some  sour  meal-water.  Twice 
they  gave  me  that  as  belonging  to  the  scurvy  patients.  They  called  it  vinegar. 
It  was  merely  water  laid  upon  sour  meal.  Our  own  men  made  a  better  article 
inside  the  stockade,  which  they  called  sour  beer.  The  sick  were  carried  to  the 
south  gate  at  roll-call,  and  those  who  could  get  carried  out  were  carried  out. 
There  was  a  second  enclosure  inside  the  hospital— a  wooden  railing  with  guards 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS.  169 

to  keep  the  men  from  going  beyond  the  line.  There  the  sick  would  be  laid. 
There  were  six  detachments  assigned  to  one  doctor's  care,  and  the  sergeant  would 
have  to  see  that  the  men  were  in  their  own  places.  The  doctor  would  examine 
them,  and  would  select  one  or  two  of  the  very  worst  cases  to  be  sent  to  the 
hospital,  when  there  would  be  perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  sick  men  in  the  detach 
ment,  so  that  the  number  that  got  to  the  hospital  was  very  few  in  comparison 
with  the  number  of  those  that  were  carried  there  awaiting  to  be  taken  out.  I 
had  myself  to  carry  out  one  of  my  comrades  three  times.  The  fourth  time  he 
was  taken  to  the  hospital,  and  he  died  a  short  time  afterwards.  In  some  cases 
men  died  while  waiting  at  the  gate  to  be  carried  out.  I  have  seen  them  dead 
there  myself.  The  greater  part  of  the  time  the  four  men  who  were  assigned  to 
that  work  by  the  sergeant  of  the  detachment  would  carry  them  out,  and  in  return 
for  carrying  them  out,  they  were  allowed  to  gather  wood  outside  the  stockade, 
which  they  would  bring  in.  Every  man  bringing  in  an  armful  of  wood  might 
sell  it  if  he  chose;  and  he  would  generally  sell  it  to  other  prisoners  for  about 
a  dollar.  The  men  got  so  hardened  to  death,  being  so  familiar  with  it,  and 
seeing  it  so  constantly  before  their  eyes,  that  I  have  often  heard  those  who  could 
not  get  a  chance  to  carry  out  a  dead  man,  say  to  those  who  did,  "That  is  right; 
trade  him  off  for  good  wood."  If  those  things  are  not  horrible,  I  do  not  know 
what  is.  I  have  stated  that  the  condition  of  the  place  was  horrible;  I  have  seen 
these  things.  Scurvy  was  a  very  general  disease  there;  there  were  hundreds  of 
cases  all  around.  It  afflicted  me  by  swelling  my  feet  and  legs  very  much,  con 
tracting  the  cords  of  my  leg  so  that  it  was  crooked  so  I  could  not  straighten 
it;  I  had  to  limp  in  walking.  Others  were  much  worse,  and  had  to  crawl  on 
the  ground  or  walk  on  crutches.  The  gums  would  get  exceedingly  sore;  the 
teeth  would  become  loose  and  would  frequently  come  out.  In  addition  to  that 
there  would  be  a  growth  of  raw  flesh  on  the  gums,  both  inside  and  out.  In  one 
case,  a  comrade  belonging  to  my  company  had  such  flesh  grow  from  each  side 
of  the  mouth  until  it  formed  a  second  growth,  making  it  impossible  for  him  to 
eat  such  coarse  food  as  the  corn  bread  that  we  received,  or  anything  of  that 
nature.  My  gums  frequently  bleed,  still.  Very  many  were  afflicted  in  that  way. 
There  were  some  barrack  buildings  put  up  at  one  end  of  the  stockade,  sort  of 
shed-barracks,  not  enclosed  on  the  side.  The  sick  were  gathered  there  as  an 
inside  hospital.  I  think  there  were  upwards  of  a  thousand  patients  there  at  the 
time.  As  I  went  there  from  day  to  day,  I  found  that  for  two  days  they  had 
received  nothing  in  the  way  of  nourishment  or  as  rations,  except  boiled  beans 
and  molasses,  which  caused  the  death  of  a  great  many.  Each  morning  there 
were  cords  of  them  laid  out  in  front  of  this  building,  dead.  I  noticed  that 
whenever  we  had  an  extra  cold  night  the  number  of  dead  laid  out  in  front  of 
those  sheds  would  be  very  large.  I  mean  that  if  they  were  piled  up  like  wood 
they  would  make  several  cords.  One  morning  I  noticed  the  body  of  one  dead 
man  which  was  so  very  offensive  that  I  had  to  step  aside  and  go  away.  How  long 
that  body  remained  in  that  neighborhood  I  do  not  know,  but  it  certainly  must 
have  been  very  injurious  to  the  health  of  those  in  the  barracks  close  by;  I  know 
that  it  was  so. 

The   water   that   passed   through   the    stockade    was    often    very    filthy.     Some 
times  it  was  middling  clear,  but  generally  it  was  not  good  to  drink.     I  was  often 


170  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

compelled  to  drink  it,  nevertheless.  At  times  I  would  go  to  those  who  had 
wells  dug.  Sometimes  they  would  give  me  a  drink  and  sometimes  they  would 
not.  I  received  such  rough  usage  and  language  from  them  that  I  have  turned 
away  parched  with  thirst,  and  drank  the  bad  water  from  the  stream,  rather 
than  beg  it  from  the  men  who  had  the  wells.  In  the  portion  of  the  stockade 
where  I  was  it  was  pretty  high  ground.  It  was  called  the  new  stockade.  There 
were  some  wells  dug  there.  Probably  one  of  them  was  the  well  that  Dr.  Bates 
described — very  deep,  but  with  no  water.  We  had  to  go  down  to  the  stream  for 
water,  or  to  beg  it  from  those  who  had  wells  near  the  stream.  There  were  a 
great  many  away  from  that  stream  who  were  unable  to  get  at  it.  I  have  seen 
a  man  lying  within  a  few  feet  of  that  stream  who  was  unable  to  get  water  for 
himself,  and  I  have  carried  water  to  him.  I  have  often  seen  men  dead  near 
there. 

TESTIMONY   OF   MARTIN  E.    HOGAN.1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States — in  the  First  Indiana 
Cavalry.  I  have  been  a  prisoner  four  times  during  the  war;  I  was  a  prisoner 
at  Andersonville ;  I  arrived  there  on  the  6th  of  August,  1864;  at  the  time  of 
my  arrival  Captain  Wirz  was  sick  and  Lieutenant  Davis  was  in  command;  to 
the  best  of  my  knowledge  Captain  Wirz  took  command  in  about  a  week  after 
that., 

I  only  know  from  hearsay  as  to  the  number  of  men  in  prison  while  I  was 
there,  about  25,000  or  30,000;  the  stockade  was  crowded;  there  was  no  space. 
A  great  many  of  the  men  were  as  nearly  naked  as  could  be.  As  to  fuel,  I  saw 
none  there  only  occasionally,  when  two  or  three  wagons  would  come  in  with  a 
stick  of  wood  on  top;  I  have  seen  the  sergeants  of  squads  go  out  with  a  squad 
of  men  occasionally  and  bring  in  wood.  There  was  no  shelter  whatever,  only 
what  the  men  made  by  digging  holes  in  the  ground  and  by  using  some  blankets 
and  some  of  their  garments.  I  cannot  say  what  number  of  rebel  troops  were 
at  the  post  while  I  was  there — two  or  three  regiments.  I  saw  negro  prisoners 
and  negro  workmen  outside;  there  were  a  good  many  negroes  who  came  to  work 
every  morning,  building  the  outside  stockade;  I  would  say  there  were  from 
thirty  to  fifty.  The  health  of  the  prisoners  was  very  bad  indeed  when  I  got 
there;  the  men  were  about  as  miserable  as  men  could  be;  I  was  taken  out  the 
next  day  to  the  general  hospital  and  assigned  to  the  duty  of  drawing  medicine 
for  the  first  division;  I  only  had  access  to  the  stockade  when  I  was  returned  to 
it  some  time  afterwards.  At  the  time  of  my  arrival  there  the  stockade  was  very 
much  crowded,  so  much  so  that  you  could  scarcely  elbow  your  way  through 
the  crowd  in  any  part  of  the  camp.  I  noticed  that  a  great  many  of  the  men 
were  lying  helpless  on  the  ground,  seemingly  without  care,  without  anybody  to 
attend  to  them,  lying  in  their  own  filth,  a  great  many  of  them  calling  for  water, 
and  a  great  many  crying  for  food,  nobody  apparently  paying  any  heed  to  them. 
I  noticed  a  great  many  there  almost  entirely  destitute  of  clothing  lying  out  in 
the  cold,  with  nothing  to  shelter  them  from  the  storm  or  sun — so  numerous  that 
I  could  not  begin  to  say  how  many.  I  never  heard  Captain  Wirz  give  any  orders 
to  shoot  prisoners;  I  never  saw  any  man  who  had  been  shot  there. 

1  Record,  p.  86  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS.  171 

At  the  time  I  arrived  there,  being  in  the  heat  of  summer,  the  water  that  ran 
through  the  stockade  was  very  low.  There  was  only  a  very  small  stream  run 
ning  through  the  center  of  the  little  channel  or  creek;  the  water  was  muddy, 
and  the  filth  of  the  camp,  when  any  rain  or  freshet  would  come,  washed  right 
into  it;  it  produced  filth  in  every  form,  to  the  extent  that  the  water  was  not  fit 
to  drink,  nor  in  fact  fit  to  wash  in.  I  have  often  seen  masses  of  maggots  on  the 
banks  of  the  stream;  I  saw  filth  of  every  sort  there. 

There  were  thick  pine  woods  in  almost  every  direction;  it  was  a  timber  country. 
There  was  timber  within  easy  hauling  distance,  enough  to  supply  that  camp  and 
more. 

The  ration  consisted  of  corn-meal  of  a  very  inferior  quality,  appearing  as  if 
corn  and  cob  had  been  ground  together  and  unsifted;  it  was  generally  half 
baked,  soft  and  sour.  Beef  of  a  very  inferior  quality  came  in  there  in  small 
portions;  the  men  did  not  get  much  beef.  The  rations  were  entirely  inadequate 
to  keep  the  men  from  being  always  hungry.  They  were  ever  crying  from  hunger, 
or  calling  for  something  to  eat.  The  rations  were  cooked  partly  in  the  cook 
house.  In  the  hospital  we  received  the  meat  raw,  and  also  the  rice.  There  were 
two  cook-houses  outside,  and  they  generally  cooked  and  baked  in  them;  I  have 
seen  bread  come  from  both.  Bread  was  about  the  only  thing  that  was  cooked 
outside  for  the  hospital. 

We  could  not  get  any  vegetables  in  the  prison;  there  was  plenty  of  corn — 
large  corn-fields — and  other  vegetables.  I  escaped  from  prison  and  struck  for 
the  Chattahoochee  river,  and  there  I  came  across  very  fine  corn-fields  within  fifteen 
miles  of  the  prison.  I  saw  melons  and  apples,  beans,  tomatoes,  &c. ;  I  do  not 
remember  seeing  any  peaches. 

The  general  hospital  was  outside  of  the  stockade.  At  the  time  of  my  arrival 
there,  Surgeon  White  was  in  charge  of  the  post ;  Surgeon  Stevenson  arrived 
soon  afterwards.  I  had  nothing  to  do  personally  with  Dr.  White;  I  was  under 
the  immediate  charge  of  Dr.  Eiland,  and  some  time  afterward  I  was  appointed 
Federal  steward,  in  charge  of  the  second  division.  I  saw  very  little  of  Dr.  White 
in  his  official  capacity;  he  seemed  to  pay  but  little  attention  to  the  hospital. 
He  was  very  seldom  there  that  I  saw.  Sometimes  he  would  ride  there  in  his 
buggy.  Diarrhoea  and  scurvy  were  prevalent  there — scurvy  seemed  to  be  the 
principal  disease.  The  limbs  of  those  afflicted  with  scurvy  were  drawn  up,  con 
tracted;  they  were  crippled,  and  some  could  not  stand  at  all.  Such  cases  were 
very  numerous  indeed.  There  was  a  separate  hospital  some  distance  from  the 
camp  for  small-pox  cases. 

I  never  saw  any  inspecting  officer  of  the  rebel  government — there  was  nothing 
of  that  sort  there.  I  saw  one  doctor  who  came  down  there  searching  after 
medical  science.1  That  was  the  only  thing  of  that  sort  I  ever  saw  there.  He 
did  not  examine  into  the  condition  of  the  prison.  He  erected  a  dissecting  room 
there,  and  went  at  dissecting;  that  is  all  I  saw  of  him.  The  dissecting  room 
was  just  outside  of  the  hospital,  within  about  fifty  feet  of  the  walls.  It  was 
composed  of  boards  nailed  up  roughly  and  a  sort  of  canvas  thrown  over  it.  I 
was  in  there  in  attendance  on  some  of  the  doctors  while  they  were  dissecting. 
I  saw  them  dissecting  several  bodies  there.  They  were  the  bodies  of  Federal 

1  This  was  probably  Dr.  Jones. 


172  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

prisoners.  I  saw  them  saw  the  skulls  of  men  in  two;  I  saw  them  saw  the  skulls 
off  and  open  the  bodies  in  that  dissecting  room.  It  continued  four  or  five  days, 
to  the  best  of  my  knowledge. 

TESTIMONY  OF   JOSEPH  D.   KEYSER.1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  120th  New 
York.  I  was  taken  prisoner  at  James  City,  Virginia,  on  the  10th  of  October, 
1863.  I  was  taken  from  Eichmond  to  Andersonville  in  February,  1864;  I  got 
there  in  the  latter  part  of  February.  Captain  Winder  had  command  until  some 
time  in  March. 

When  we  arrived  at  the  prison  it  was  only  partially  completed.  We  were 
confined  to  the  north  side  of  the  prison,  the  south  side  not  being  completed. 
The  prison  had  no  shelter  in  it.  The  trees  had  all  been  cut  down  in  the  enclo 
sure.  There  was  a  sufficiency  of  wood  there,  and  the  water  at  that  time  was 
yery  good.  I  arrived  there  among  the  first  load — about  four  hundred  prisoners 
were  there  at  that  time.  There  continued  to  be  a  sufficiency  of  wood  and  water 
for  about  the  first  month  we  were  there.  As  the  prisoners  commenced  to  come 
there  more  thickly,  the  wood  began  to  get  scarce,  and,  in  consequence  of  the 
rebel  camp  being  above  on  the  stream,  the  water  became  filthy;  but  we  were 
obliged  to  use  it,  as  we  had  no  means  of  digging  wells  in  the  prison.  Quite  a 
number  of  the  men  were  healthy  when  they  came  there,  and  remained  so  for  the 
first  few  months.  There  was  no  considerable  sickness  from  the  time  we  arrived 
there  until  May,  1864.  Then  the  men  began  to  get  sick  quite  fast,  and  died  off 
quite  rapidly  in  June,  July,  and  August,  1864 — of  diarrhoea,  dysentery,  scurvy, 
and  gangrene.  .  .  . 

1  There  was  not  very  good  care  taken  of  the  sick;  at  least  there  was  not  much 
furnished  to  them.  There  were  no  means  adequate  to  take  care  of  the  number 
of  sick  that  were  there  at  the  time.  There  were  only  a  few  tents  furnished,  and 
in  those  there  were  no  bunks.  The  patients  were  compelled  to  lie  on  the  ground. 
The  food  was  insufficient  to  sustain  life  for  any  great  length  of  time,  as  regards 
its  quality  and  quantity.  When  we  first  went  there  we  had  a  sufficiency  of 
medicines,  but,  as  the  sickness  increased,  the  medicines  became  scarce,  and  were 
not  adequate  to  supply  the  wants  of  the  prisoners.  I  was  put  in  charge  of  the 
sick,  as  hospital  steward.  Dr.  White  was  the  surgeon  there  at  that  time.  I 
did  not  think  that  he  took  special  interest  in  the  sick.  He  would  generally  leave 
it  to  some  of  his  assistants  to  look  after  them  and  attend  to  the  condition  of 
things.  I  have  seen  cases  of  small-pox  there.  The  first  case  was  one  that  broke 
out'  a  few  days  after  we  arrived.  They  had  then  one  'tent  for  a  hospital.  Five 
men  were  confined  in  that  tent,  and  that  man  with  the  small-pox  was  confined 
with  them.  He  remained  there,  I  think,  until  he  died. 

When  we  first  arrived  there,  the  rations  appeared  to  be  much  larger  than  they 
were  at  a  subsequent  period.  We  received  more  bacon  and  corn-meal.  The 
quality  of  the  corn-meal  was  very  indifferent;  it  had  the  appearance  of  being 
ground  up — the  cobs  and  corn  together.  The  rations  were  cooked  by  the  pris 
oners  until  some  time  in  April,  when  the  cook-house  was  completed.  The  cook- 
nouse  was  on  the  west  side  of  the  stockade,  about  two  hundred  yards  from  it. 


1  Record,  pp.  93  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS.  173 

Its  drainage  went  into  the  creek  and  passed  through  the  stockade.  There  was 
not  a  very  large  supply  of  vegetables  while  I  was  there.  Occasionally  we  had  a 
small  quantity  which  was  cooked  at  the  hospital  and  distributed  to  the  sick. 
The  quantity  was  very  small  and  inadequate  to  the  wants  of  the  prisoners  who 
were  sick,  especially  those  who  were  laboring  under  scorbutic  diseases. 

TESTIMONY  OF  ANDREW  J.  SPRING. 

Andrew  J.  Spring  went  to  Andersonville  as  a  prisoner  on  May  3T 
1864,  and  was  taken  out  of  the  stockade  on  May  27th  on  detailed  duty. 
He  testified:1 

Before  I  was  taken  out  many  of  my  own  men  became  sick  with  chronic 
diarrhoea,  and  there  were  many  cases  of  scurvy.  Soon  after  I  went  into  the 
stockade  I  found  almost  all  my  boys  in  there  were  afflicted  more  or  less  with 
scurvy;  a  great  many  were  crippled  up,  so  that  they  could  not  walk,  and  had 
to  crawl  on  their  hands  and  knees  or  .get  along  the  best  way  they  could;  some 
of  them  could  not  do  even  that.  There  was  a  change  in  their  whole  appearance. 
I  was  absent  from  there,  at  one  time,  about  six  weeks;  there  was  an  order  issued 
so  that  we  could  not  get  into  the  stockade;  the  men  who  were  paroled  outside 
did  not  have  permission  to  go  in  to  see  those  inside  the  stockade;  one  day  I 
was  bound  to  go  in,  and  I  applied  to  the  lieutenant  of, the  guard  at  the  gate 
and  gave  him  twelve  dollars  in  greenbacks  to  let  me  go  in  and  stay  an  hour, 
to  see  our  boys;  I  went  in  and  spent  an  hour  inside  the  stockade;  a  great  many 
of  the  boys  were  very  poor;  there  were  some  of  my  best  friends  whom  I  could 
not  recognize  until  they  came  up  and  shook  hands  with  me  and  made  them 
selves  known,  and,  even  then,  I  could  hardly  believe  they  were  the  same  men ; 
I  have  seen  idiots  in  the  stockade;  I  have  seen  men,  acquaintances  of  mine,  who 
would  go  around  there  not  knowing  anything  at  all,  and  hardly  noticing  any 
thing;  I  have  seen  men  there  who  were  crippled  up  so  that  they  had  scarcely 
any  life  in  them  at  all;  they  would  lie  on  the  ground,  to  all  appearances  dead; 
at  different  times  I  went  up  to  several  who  I  thought  were  dead,  but  I  found  they 
had  a  little  life  in  them;  I  was  intending  to  help  some  of  them,  but  after  I 
helped  one,  I  was  called  from  one  place  to  another,  and  I  found  that  I  had  more 
than  I  could  attend  to,  so  I  had  to  leave  them  entirely. 

There  was  any  quantity  of  wood  in  that  part  of  the  country  which  could  have 
been  issued  to  the  prisoners.  I  saw  negroes  about  there ;  I  saw  them  cutting 
wood.  At  the  time  they  expected  Stoneman's  raid  down  there,  soon  after  the 
capture  of  Atlanta,  I  saw  from  500  to  1,000  negroes  chopping  wood  to  the  west 
ward,  so  as  to  make  a  range  for  the  use  of  their  artillery.  They  also  at  the- 
same  time  put  up  two  stockades  around  the  main  stockade  of  the  prison  and! 
made  a  place  for  the  artillery  to  work  around  the  prison,  so  that  if  our  owni 
men  should  make  an  attack  on  the  prison  to  release  the  prisoners,  their  fire 
would  go  directly  into  the  prison. 

1  Record,  p.   1 1 1  et  seq. 


174  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JAMES  CLANCY.1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  48th  New 
York  regiment.  I  was  taken  prisoner.  I  was  at  the  Andersonville  prison;  I 
arrived  there  on  the  16th  of  June,  1864.  I  remained  there  until  the  2d  of 
November,  1864. 

I  was  in  the  stockade  all  the  time.  It  was  very  much  crowded.  The  men 
were  very  destitute  of  clothing  and  shelter.  Quite  a  number  were  sick  inside 
the  stockade  who  could  not  be  admitted  to  the  hospital,  and  they  died  in  there 
for  the  want  of  going  to  the  hospital.  I  carried  a  number  of  my  own  regiment 
out  to  be  admitted,  but  I  could  not  get  them  in.  I  carried  one  man  out  three 
times  before  he  was  admitted.  That  was  the  general  rule  so  far  as  I  could  see. 
They  would  never  take  any  man  of  our  regiment  out  until  he  was  almost  dead, 
and  would  not  live  more  than  a  week  after  being  taken  to  the  hospital. 

I  do  not  find  it  possible  to  give  more  than  fragments  of  this  class  of 
testimony  and  such  as  will  disclose  the  various  experiences  through 
which  these  prisoners  passed.  Besides,  upon  other  branches  of  the 
case  we  shall  have  occasion  to  recur  to  the  testimony  of  some  of  these 
same  witnesses. 

TESTIMONY   OF   J.    NELSON   CLARK.2 

I  have  seen  soldiers  become  insane.  One  in  particular  wandered  up  and  down 
the  stream  with  his  clothes  off — the  little  stream  of  water  that  ran  through  the 
prison.  When  his  meals  were  taken  to  him  he  had  not  sense  enough  to  know 
that  he  should  come  out  and  cook  them,  and  he  remained  most  of  the  time  in 
that  water  until  he  died.  He  was  given  clothes  once  or  twice,  but  he  refused  to 
put  them  on.  The  sun  was  very  hot  and  burnt  his  skin,  and  he  became  very 
thin.  When  I  last  saw  him  he  was  lying  dead  in  the  stream.  I  saw  soldiers 
who  had  committed  suicide.  One  morning,  after  I  had  got  up,  I  saw  a  man  who 
had  hung  himself  about  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  from  my  tent  to  a  stake  that  was 
in  the  ground,  used  partly  to  hang  our  blankets  on  and  other  purposes.  I  sup 
pose  the  man  was  insane.  He  had  a  wild  staring  appearance  for  a  few  days 
before,  and  said  that  he  would  sooner  be  dead  than  live  there;  he  said  that  to 
some  of  the  men  alongside  of  him.  His  companions  had  taken  him  down  to  the 
stream  several  times  to  wash  him  off;  he  was  very  filthy,  lousy  and  dirty,  as 
most  of  them  were  in  there;  even  the  cleanest  had  lice  on  them.  I  don't  recol 
lect  how  many  men  of  my  company  went  in  there  with  me — forty-one,  I  think. 
Twenty-two  died  in  southern  prisons,  most  of  them  at  Andersonville,  some  at 
Florence. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JOSEPH  ADLER.3 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  two  years  and  nine  months; 
I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville;  I  was  there  from  about  the  middle  of  March 
to  the  8th  of  September,  1864;  I  know  Captain  Wirz.  When  I  was  captured 

1  Record,  p.  152  et  seq. 

2  Record,  p.  157. 
8  Record,  p.  181. 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIEES.  175 

there  were  seventy-one  of  us,  including  a  young  negro  boy;  all  that  is  left  is 
about  a  dozen  out  of  the  seventy-one. 

I  was  part  of  the  time  in  the  hospital  in  the  capacity  of  nurse;  I  cannot  state 
exactly  how  long;  I  think  it  was  two  or  three  months;  I  went  into  the  hospital 
in  the  month  of  June,  and  came  out  of  there  about  three  or  four  weeks  before 
we  left  Andersonville ;  I  left  Andersonville  on  the  8th  of  September;  while  there 
I  had  opportunities  of  observing,  from  time  to  time,  what  was  going  on  outside 
the  stockade;  I  should  judge  the  sick  were  treated  pretty  badly;  the  majority 
of  the  sick  men  had  to  lie  on  the  bare  ground;  the  majority  of  them  had  no 
blankets;  they  had  nothing  to  lie  on  and  nothing  to  cover  themselves  with;  they 
had  hardly  any  clothing  to  cover  their  bodies  with,  and  most  of  the  time  the  food 
furnished  them  was  unfit  for  them  to  eat,  and  consequently  they  had  to  go  with 
out  anything  to  eat.  It  rained  twenty-four  days  in  June,  if  I  am  not  mistaken; 
I  know  it  rained  twenty  days  in  succession;  at  that  time  there  were  about  200 
men  lying  out  under  the  open  sky  without  any  shelter  whatever,  without  any 
bedding  or  blankets,  and  some  of  them  had  nothing  on  but  a  shirt  and  a  pair  of 
drawers,  and  there  was  no  medicine  at  the  time  to  be  given  them,  and  they  had 
no  attendance  whatever;  they  had  only  a  little  water,  and  all  they  had  to  eat  was 
a  little  corn-bread  and  rice  soup,  that  I  would  not  give  to  a  dog.  I  do  not  re 
collect  ever  seeing  Captain  Wirz  strike  or  kick  any  of  the  sick  or  anything  of 
that  kind;  I  have  heard  him  use  very  abusive  and  insulting  language. 

Captain  Wirz  took  command  there  in  the  latter  part  of  March  or  the  beginning 
of  April,  1864.  The  first  day  he  went  in  the  stockade  he  said  he  had  to  muster  us 
all,  to  divide  us  into  squads,  detachments,  and  divisions,  and  that  if  he  did  not  get 
through  by  one  or  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  we  would  get  no  rations  that  day; 
lie  did  not  get  through,  and  consequently  we  had  to  go  without  anything  to  eat. 
I  do  not  think  it  was  anybody's  fault  that  we  did  not  get  through;  it  was  im 
possible  to  get  through  all  the  work  in  the  time  specified,  and  no  reasonable  man 
-would  have  thought  that  it  could  be  done. 

I  lost  a  friend  while  I  was  attending  the  hospital  there.  I  made  a  request  of 
Captain  Wirz  on  that  occasion.  There  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Stevenson, 
•who  belonged  to  the  Second  Massachusetts  cavalry,  company  A,  the  same  com 
pany  that  I  belonged  to.  He  died  there.  He  had  respectable  clothes  on,  and 
seeing  that  he  was  a  friend  of  mine  whom  I  had  known  for  a  long  time,  I  did 
not,  as  I  usually  did,  take  off  his  clothes  and  give  them  to  the  living,  but  I  left 
them  all  on  his  body,  and  requested  Captain  Wirz  to  let  the  clothes  remain  on 
the  body,  and  he  told  me  he  would;  after  the  body  was  carried  out  of  the  hos 
pital,  Captain  Wirz  went  with  the  wagon,  and  two  Confederate  soldiers  took  the 
•clothes  off  the  man  and  they  buried  him  stark  naked,  without  anything,  not  even 
a  shirt  on  his  body,  Captain  Wirz  did  not  make  use  of  any  expressions  at  that 
time,  that  I  can  recollect. 

TESTIMONY  OF  D.  H.  STEARNS.1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  First  Eegiment 
United  States  Sharp-shooters;  I  was  in  the  Andersonville  prison;  I  got  there 
-July  8,  1864;  I  was  put  in  the  stockade;  I  remained  in  there  one  or  two  days; 

1  Record,  p.    191. 


176  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

I  was  removed  from  the  stockade   and  put  in  the  hospital,  to   act   as   hospital 
steward,  which  was  my  rank  in  the  regiment. 

Some  of  the  men  brought  to  the  hospital  from  the  stockade  were  entirely 
naked;  some  had  a  shirt  on,  some  a  shirt  and  drawers,  some  with  drawers 
without  a  shirt;  some  of  them  appeared  to  have  fallen  into  the  mire  that  was  in 
the  swamp  in  the  stockade,  and  got  their  clothes  saturated  with  the  filth  and 
water,  and  were  not  yet  dry.  In  one  case,  I  remember,  in  August,  a  man  was 
brought  in,  and  the  maggots  that  inhabited  the  filth  had  got  under  his  clothes, 
and  were  between  his  body  and  clothes  inside;  a  large  quantity  of  them  had 
collected  under  his  clothes,  and  they  had  gone  inside.  They  had  attacked  his 
eyes,  his  nose,  his  ears,  and  the  openings  in  his  body;  they  had  penetrated  the 
rectum,  causing  the  man  excruciating  pain,  so  much  so  that,  although  he  was 
much  emaciated  from  disease,  it  caused  him  to  get  up  after  he  had  been  in  the 
hospital  a  while  and  go  round  the  hospital  in  exertion  trying  to  relieve  himself  of 
pain,  until  he  was  exhausted;  after  three  or  four  hours  he  died;  I  could  not  learn 
the  man's  name;  he  was  delirious.  Among  the  patients  brought  into  the  hospital 
from  the  stockade  were  very  many  delirious.  I  saw  several  other  cases  in  which 
men  were  afflicted  similarly  to  this  man  with  the  vermin.  Amputations  were 
frequently  performed  in  the  hospital;  the  result  of  amputations  there  was  almost 
invariably  death;  I  do  not  remember  of  a  single  case  of  recovery  after  an  opera 
tion.  There  were  no  beds  in  the  hospital,  but  bunks  were  made  in  part  of  the 
hospital;  they  were  made  of  boards  put  on  poles,  simply  two  or  three  boards 
for  a  patient  to  lie  on;  there  were  bunks  in  only  a  portion  of  the  hospital;  more 
were  asked  for  on  one  occasion  by  me;  I  several  times  asked  the  medical  officer 
if  more  could  not  be  obtained,  and  was  answered,  that  they  did  not  know;  I 
then  asked  if  poles  and  boughs  could  not  be  procured,  as  wood  was  plenty  around 
there;  they  told  me  in  that  case  that  the  commandant,  Captain  Wirz,  would  not 
allow  the  men  to  go  out  for  that  purpose.  I  asked  Captain  Wirz,  myself,  for 
passes  to  permit  the  men,  who  had  already  given  their  parole  not  to  attempt  to 
escape,  to  go  outside  the  hospital  for  that  purpose.  He  refused  me,  calling  me 
some  one  of  his  pet  epithets,  a  God-damned  Yankee  son  of  a  bitch,  and  told  me 
that,  if  I  said  anything  more  to  him  about  it,  he  would  take  my  pass  away  and 
put  me  in  the  stockade. 

TESTIMONY  OP  THOMAS  H.  HORNE. 

Thomas  H.  Home,  a  soldier  of  the  102d  New  York  Volunteers,  tes 
tified:1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  102d  New 
York  Volunteers;  I  went  to  Andersonville  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  July,  1864. 
I  saw  Captain  Wirz  the  day  I  arrived  there.  We  had  a  thousand  men,  half  of 
those  that  were  taken  prisoners  at  Atlanta;  he  addressed  the  men  in  the  line, 
and  said  that  if  they  did  not  behave  themselves  he  would  shoot  them  on  the  spot. 
The  rebel  sergeants  took  what  they  wanted  from  us,  it  made  no  difference  what, 
blankets,  coats,  and  everything  else.  They  took  money  and  watches  from  men 
and  took  blankets  from  some  of  them.  I  saw  the  rebel  sergeants  give  the  money 
and  watches  to  Captain  Wirz;  I  stood  close  by  Captain  Wirz  when  he  took 

1  Record,  p.   201. 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS.  177 

them,  and  that  is  the  last  the  men  ever  heard  of  them  so  far  as  I  know.  They 
took  two  or  three  small  articles  out  of  my  knapsack;  I  had  five  shirts  on  which 
they  did  not  take,  and  I  had  two  ten-dollar  bills  in  my  mouth.  They  took  a 
case-knife  from  me,  a  fork  and  some  note  paper.  The  men  had  to  take  off  their 
knapsacks  and  haversacks  and  leave  them  on  the  ground  to  be  opened;  there 
was  some  one  hundred  dollars  taken  from  a  young  man  standing  close  by  me. 
I  saw  as  many  as  three  watches  taken  from  men  right  by  me. 

When  I  was  first  put  into  the  stockade  I  tried  to  find  a  place  to  lie  down,  but 
it  was  a  pretty  hard  matter;  I  went  to  two  or  three  places,  but  it  was  of  no  use. 
One  man  said  that  I  could  not  lie  down  there.  Pretty  soon  I  had  to  fight  for 
a  place  to  lie  down  on.  There  was  no  room  there,  and  they  said  we  had  no 
business  there.  Of  course  I  got  a  place  after  a  while.  The  men  were  perfect 
skeletons  where  I  lay.  They  were  in  the  worst  kind  of  a  state,  half -naked,  filthy, 
lousy,  too  sick  to  get  up;  I  lay  on  the  ground  many  a  night  when  I  couldn't 
sleep;  sometimes  on  account  of  men  around  me  groaning  in  agony.  When  I 
would  wake  up  in  the  morning  I  would  see  men  dead  all  around  me,  perfect 
skeletons.  One  man  died  and  lay  there  so  long  that  he  could  not  be  taken  out, 
and  they  had  to  bury  him  where  he  died. 

TESTIMONY  OF  WILLIS  VAN  BUREN. 

Willis  Van  Buren,  a  member  of  the  Second  New  York  Cavalry, 
testified  i1 

The  prisoners,  while  I  was  there,  were  supplied  with  rations  very  irregularly; 
I  have  seen  men  in  the  stockade  in  a  starving  condition;  at  the  time  I  went  in 
the  stockade  it  was  so;  I  saw  skeletons,  men  with  the  flesh  all  off  their  bones, 
lying  and  standing  around  and  huddling  over  small  fires — not  fires  to  keep  them 
warm,  but  fires  to  cook  their  victuals.  Some  were  partially  covered  with  blankets 
and  some  nearly  naked.  They  were  lying  about  indiscriminately  in  a  starving 
condition.  The  place  seemed  a  perfect  hell  upon  earth.  I  frequently  saw  the 
men  hunting  around  the  sinks  for  food  that  had  once  passed  through  men's  bodies, 
undigested  food  to  eat.2 

TESTIMONY  OF  MAJOR  ARCHIBALD  BOYLE.3 

I  am  major  of  the  12th  United  States  colored  troops.  I  was  a  prisoner  at 
Andersonville.  I  was  captured  at  Ocean  Pond,  Florida,  on  the  20th  of  Feb 
ruary,  1864.  I  was  captured  while  in  command  of  my  regiment,  which  was 
styled  at  that  time  the  First  North  Carolina  Volunteers.  I  was  taken  to  Ander 
sonville;  arriving  there  about  the  14th  of  March.  I  stopped  in  the  stockade 
at  Andersonville  until  the  16th  or  17th  of  June,  when  I  was  sent  to  the  hospital. 
Previously  to  that  I  had  been  refused  admittance  into  the  hospital,  and  had  been 
refused  all  medical  attendance.  I  was  very  severely  wounded.  I  received  a 
flesh  wound  in  the  body  and  a  very  severe  wound  in  the  lower  part  of  the  right 
leg,  fracturing  both  bones.  On  arriving  at  the  hospital  I  was  in  a  very  reduced 

1  Record,  p.  263. 

2  There  is  much  testimony  that  prisoners  hunted  the  swamp  and  other  places  for  undigested 
food. 

8  Record,  p.  326  et  seq. 


178  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

state  from  the  effects  of  my  wounds  and  from  exposure  and  starvation,  and  from 
several  other  causes.  My  wound  was  in  a  very  bad  state;  it  was  full  of  gangrene 
at  the  time.  On  the  14th  of  March,  1864,  I  came  into  the  stockade  feeling 
very  faint.  I  heard  there  was  a  hospital  inside  the  stockade,  and  I  got  some 
men  to  help  me  up  there.  I  was  on  crutches  at  the  time.  I  went  in,  and  one 
of  our  own  men,  who  was  acting  hospital  steward,  commenced  to  bind  up  my 
leg,  and  was  binding  it  when  Surgeon  White  came  in  and  ordered  him  to  desist, 
saying  at  the  same  time,  "Send  him  out  there  with  his  niggers,"  or  something 
to  that  effect,  and  using  an  oath  at  the  same  time.  I  said  nothing,  but  merely 
looked  at  him.  The  hospital  steward  finished  the  dressing  of  my  leg,  and  it 
was  cared  for  by  our  own  men  afterwards.  I  was  in  full  uniform  then,  as  I  am 
now.  At  the  time  I  was  captured  I  had  on  sword,  sash  and  belt.  About  the 
latter  part  of  April,  I  should  judge,  I  went  up  to  the  hospital,  which  was  in  the 
stockade  at  that  time,  and  while  there  the  hospital  steward,  Eobinson,  who  was 
the  right-hand  man  of  Dr.  White,  came  in  and  asked  me  if  I  was  the  major  of 
a  negro  regiment;  I  told  him  I  was  an  officer  in  the  United  States  military 
service.  He  asked  me  what  regiment,  and  I  told  him.  He  said,  "You  are  the^ 
man.  Now  I  want  you  to  go  out  of  this."  I  asked  him  who  he  was,  and  he 
told  me  that  was  none  of  my  business.  He  went  out  himself.  I  stopped  there. 
I  did  not  consider  that  he  had  any  right  to  order  me  out,  so  I  stopped  there.  A 
little  while  afterwards  Mr.  Burns,  one  of  our  own  men,  who  was  acting  as 
hospital  steward,  came  in  and  said  to  me,  "This  man  Eobinson  says  that  if  I  do 
not  persuade  you  to  go  out,  he  will  ball  and  chain  you."  Under  those  circum 
stances  I  went  out.  I  afterwards  learned,  however,  that  the  language  he  used 
to  Burns  was,  that  if  I  did  not  go  out  he  would  shoot  me  and  ball  and  chain 
him.  Eobinson  was  a  Confederate  hospital  steward;  I  think  he  was  the  chief 
steward  of  the  post. 

While  I  was  there  I  demanded  to  have  my  rank  recognized.  I  made  several 
demands.  I  was  used  in  every  respect  the  same  as  private  soldiers,  only  worse. 
I  made  a  demand  on  Colonel  Persons,  when  I  was  in  the  stockade;  I  think  so, 
but  I  will  not  state  positively.  However,  after  I  was  refused  treatment  in  the 
hospital,  in  June  or  July,  I  made  two  demands  on  Captain  Wirz.  The  first 
time  he  said  he  would  see  me  about  it.  This  was  about  October,  1864.  The 
next  demand  I  made,  he  sent  in  after  me  and  I  went  out  and  saw  him.  A  day 
or  two  afterwards  he  sent  me  with  a  letter,  under  charge  of  an  officer,  to  see 
General  Winder.  Captain  Wirz  said  that  he  could  not  do  anything,  as  he  was 
merely  a  subordinate  under  General  Winder.  When  I  got  to  Millen  an  officer 
came  to  me  and  got  my  name,  rank,  and  regiment.  The  officer  commanding  at 
Millen,  Captain  Bowles,  put  me  in  the  stockade  again  and  refused  to  put  my 
name  on  the  register,  saying  at  the  same  time  that  I  should  never  be  exchanged. 
I  left  Andersonville  on  the  18th  of  November,  I  believe.  I  saw  Captain  Wirz 
frequently  while  I  was  there.  He  saw  me  frequently.  I  was  dressed  in  uniform. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  In  connection  with  the  testimony  of  the  witness,  I 
desire  to  introduce  as  evidence  a  letter  contained  in  Captain  Wirz's  letter-book. 

[There  being  no  objection,  the  letter  was  put  in  evidence.  The  following  is  a 
copy:] 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS.  179 

HEADQUARTERS  CONFEDERATE  STATES  MILITARY  PRISON, 

CAMP  SUMTER,  GA.,  November  28,  1864. 

I  have  the  honor  to  forward  to  you  under  guard,  in  charge  of  Detective  Weather- 
ford,  eight  prisoners  of  war,  to  wit : 

A.  Boyle,  major  35th  United  States.     He  was  captured  at  Ocean  Pond,  Florida, 
while  in  command  of  a  negro  regiment;  he  has  not  been  recognized  as  an  officer, 
although  he  has  made  several  attempts  to  be  recognized  and  exchanged.     I  for 
ward  him  to  you  to  enable  him  to  see  the  general  commanding.  .  .  . 
I  remain,  colonel,  most  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

H.  WIRZ, 

Captain  Commanding  Prison. 
COLONEL  H.  FORNO, 

Commanding  $c. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JOHN  BURNS  WALKER. 

John  Burns  Walker,  Company  G,  141st  Pennsylvania  Volunteers, 
was  a  prisoner  from  June  16,  1864,  to  May  28,  1865.1 

My  duty  as  sergeant  of  a  ninety  called  me  to  be  at  sick  call  every  morning 
with  the  sick.  The  order  generally  was  for  such  sick  men  as  had  to  be  carried 
out  on  blankets.  I  remember  that  on  the  27th  of  July  an  order  was  given,  I 
think,  for  500 — five  from  each  detachment;  there  were  over  a  hundred  detach 
ments  in  the  prison  at  that  time.  The  orders  were  generally  read  from  the  gate, 
but  whether  they  came  from  the  surgeons  or  from  Captain  Wirz,  I  do  not  know. 
The  sick  men  were  carried  out,  and  about  noon  the  surgeons  were  sent  in.  Those 
sick  men  remained  in  the  sick  enclosure  until  next  day  at  noon,  when  they  were 
taken  out,  500  of  them.  They  were  in  a  dying  condition.  None  were  taken 
except  such  as  were  considered  not  fit  to  live  until  next  day.  I  have  often 
taken  sick  men  when  the  doctor  would  look  at  them  and  say  that  they  would 
live  till  to-morrow.  That  was  Dr.  Eossey,  the  surgeon  to  whom  I  reported  at 
the  gate.  He  told  me  to  take  them  back.  They  often  asked  if  a  particular 
man  could  live  to  be  brought  again.  We  had  no  medical  attendance  in  the  stock 
ade.  I  never  saw  the  surgeons  in  the  stockade  until  the  stockade  hospital  was 
erected,  in  September  and  October. 

TESTIMONY  OF  THOMAS  WALSH.2 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  Seventy-fourth 
New  York.  I  arrived  at  Andersonville  on  the  29th  February,  1864,  and  left  it 
about  the  20th  of  October.  .  .  . 

I  think  there  were  altogether  about  sixteen  or  seventeen  trees  in  the  stockade 
when  I  arrived  there;  a  portion  of  them  were  old  burned  up  pine  trees;  there 
were  six  or  seven  other  trees  on  the  south  side  which  I  believe  were  afterwards 
•cut  down  and  used,  with  the  exception  of  one  or  two,  in  making  a  sink  in  the 
swamp  for  the  accommodation  of  the  men.  But  the  other  timber  there,  this 
blackened  pine  wood,  was  cut  down  by  ourselves  and  used  for  firewood.  I  think 
the  timber  was  all  cleared  out  of  the  stockade  in  less  than  a  fortnight  after  I 
got  there.  I  think  I  was  in  the  sixteenth  hundred  when  I  arrived.  Before 

1  Record,  p.   349. 

2  Record,  p.  373. 


180  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

Captain  Wirz  came  there  I  used  to  get  out  to  get  some  pine  tops;  when  I  went 
out  they  supposed  I  was  going  to  sell  some  things,  a  watch  or  something;  when 
I  went  out  the  first  time  I  sold  the  buttons  off  my  coat  for  soap.  We  would 
not  be  allowed  to  go  out  for  wood  unless  we  had  the  privilege;  that  privilege 
was  withdrawn.  I  was  on  the  north  side,  and  no  man  was  allowed  at  any  time 
to  go  out,  even  on  the  south  side,  unless  he  paid  three  dollars  in  Federal  money 
to  the  guards.  On  paying  that  money  we  could  go  out  and  get  wood.  I  know 
something  about  the  enlargement  of  the  stockade.  Before  the  stockade  was 
enlarged  I  happened  to  be  over  with  a  friend  of  mine,  a  young  man  named 
Kelly;  he  was  a  clerk  in  the  hospital  on  the  south  side;  I  used  to  go  over  to 
him  to  get  some  broken  victuals  occasionally,  little  scraps  of  meat,  a  little  pepper, 
and  some  corn  bread,  because  the  food  I  received  myself  was  entirely  insufficient 
to  support  nature.  I  did  not  hear  the  prisoner  say  anything  about  the  enlarge 
ment  of  the  stockade,  but  I  heard  one  of  the  rebel  sergeants  say  that  the  stockade 
was  about  being  enlarged  on  both  ends,  north  and  south;  that  is,  if  it  were 
enlarged  on  the  south  side  it  would  bring  it  down  toward  the  large  creek  down 
there. 

TESTIMONY  OF  CAPTAIN  WILSON  FRENCH.1 

I  was  lately  a  captain  of  the  Seventeenth  Connecticut  Volunteers.  I  was  cap 
tured  February  5,  1865,  in  the  southern  part  of  Florida,  and  was  taken  to 
Andersonville,  arriving  there  about  the  middle  of  February,  1865.  I  was  con 
fined  in  Castle  Eeed  with  sixty-four  other  officers.  It  was  a  short  distance  from 
the  stockade.  It  was  not  within  the  main  stockade;  it  was'  a  building  formerly 
used  for  a  guard-house,  as  I  understood.  The  quality  of  the  rations  served  out 
was  very  poor,  and  the  quantity  was  not  sufficient  to  sustain  life.  The  rations 
for  an  officer  for  one  day  were  less  than  two-thirds  of  a  pint  of  corn-meal,  about 
the  same  quantity  of  peas,  and  from  two  to  three  ounces  of  salt  meat  after  the 
bone  was  taken  out,  and  perhaps  a  half  a  gill  of  sorghum.  That  composed  a 
day's  rations.  When  the  meal  was  sifted  there  was  less  than  half  a  pint  of  it, 
and  less  than  half  a  pint  of  peas  after  the  dirt  was  taken  out.  We  did  not 
pretend  to  take  out  the  wormy  ones — we  cooked  those;  we  merely  took  out  the 
dirt  and  gravel.  Had  we  not  been  allowed  to  buy  provisions  we  would  have 
starved  there.  We  were  allowed  to  buy  provisions.  We  never  had  any  difficulty  in 
getting  vegetables;  we  used  to  buy  almost  anything  that  we  wanted  of  the  ser 
geant  who  called  the  roll  mornings  and  nights.  His  name  was  Smith,  I  think; 
he  was  Captain  Wirz's  chief  sergeant;  we  were  divided  into  messes,  eight  in  each 
mess;  my  mess  used  to  buy  from  two  to  four  bushels  of  sweet  potatoes  a  week, 
at  the  rate  of  fifteen  dollars  Confederate  money  per  bushel.  Turnips  we  bought 
at  twenty  dollars  a  bushel.  We  had  to  buy  our  own  soap  for  washing  our  per 
sons  and  clothing;  we  bought  meat  and  eggs  and  biscuit.  There  seemed  to  be 
an  abundance  of  those  things.  They  were  in  the  market  constantly.  That  ser 
geant  used  to  come  down  with  a  wagon-load  of  potatoes  at  a  time,  bringing 
twenty  or  twenty-five  bushels  at  a  load  sometimes.  I  mean  to  say  that  if  we 
had  not  had  the  privilege  of  buying  what  we  needed,  we  should  have  starved. 
The  quantity  and  quality  of  rations  furnished  us  were  not  sufficient  to  sustain 
life,  in  my  opinion. 

1  Record,  p.  383. 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS.  181 

I  remained  at  Andersonville  about  five  weeks.  Our  quarters  were  very  poor. 
The  building  in  which  we  were  confined  was  about  sixty  feet  long,  and  twenty- 
five  feet  wide,  and  there  were  sixty-four  officers  confined  in  it;  so  you  can  im 
agine  that  we  were  pretty  closely  packed  together.i  We  had  to  do  our  own 
cooking  in  the  building,  and  when  first  I  went  there  we  were  not  allowed  to  go 
outside  unless  to  go  to  the  sink.  We  had  no  yard  to  go  into  at  all.  We  did 
not  see  many  of  the  Confederate  officers  except  the  sergeant.  He  threatened 
sometimes  to  put  us  in  the  stocks.  They  were  giving  us  from  thirteen  to  fifteen 
dollars  in  Confederate  money  to  one  in  greenbacks,  and  the  latter  part  of  the 
time  they  gave  us  twenty  dollars  for  one.  A  bushel  of  vegetables,  for  which 
was  paid  twenty  dollars,  could  have  been  purchased  for  a  one-dollar  "greenback" 
— for  less  than  a  one-dollar  greenback.  According  to  my  observation,  produce 
raised  in  the  Southern  states  was  cheaper  than  that  of  the  North,  considering  the 
price  of  gold. 

TESTIMONY   OF  J.   EVERETT  ALDEN.2 

I  was  formerly  orderly  sergeant  of  company  F,  Fourth  Vermont  Volunteers.  I 
was  captured  on  the  23d  of  June  and  taken  to  Petersburg;  thence  to  Rich 
mond,  there  confined  at  Libby  three  or  four  days,  and  from  there  was  taken  to 
Andersonville.  I  arrived  there  July  12,  1864.  We  were  immediately  marched 
to  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters,  and  there  we  were  counted  off  into  nineties,  three 
of  which,  270  men,  constituted  a  detachment. 

My  detachment  was  No.  107.  I  think  there  were  from  29,000  to  30,000  men 
there  at  that  time.  The  condition  of  the  men  was  very  bad;  some  that  I  saw 
were  nearly  naked;  some  had  but  a  pair  of  government  drawers,  and  they  were 
so  emaciated,  so  reduced  in  flesh,  that  their  bones  nearly  pierced  their  skin. 
Almost  every  morning  when  I  went  to  the  creek  after  water  I  would  see  from 
one  to  four  dead  bodies  lying  on  the  banks  of  the  creek  entirely  naked,  stripped 
of  their  clothing,  by  the  other  prisoners.  As  soon  as  a  man  died  they  would 
take  the  opportunity  to  appropriate  his  clothing,  as  they  needed  it.  I  should 
think  the  men  whom  I  saw  lying  there  were  men  who  had  died  from  starvation; 
they  were  very  poor  in  flesh. 

The  detachment  which  I  was  in  never  drew  any  wood  from  the  time  we  went 
there  till  some  time  towards  the  last  of  August,  a  period  of  from  four  to  six  weeks, 
I  should  think.  We  had  some  cooked  rations  during  that  time.  Some  of  the 
detachments  drew  a  small  piece  of  wood;  the  wood  was  issued  to  the  detach 
ment.  It  was  then  subdivided  among  the  nineties,  and  then  again  subdivided 
in  small  pieces  among  messes  of  thirty  men  each.  The  wood  being  divided 
into  thirty  pieces,  the  sergeant  having  charge  of  the  thirty  would  distribute  it 
among  the  men  so  that  no  one  could  find  fault  with  the  quantity  which  each 
got.  The  piece  for  each  man  was  in  thickness  and  length  about  the  size  of  my 
arm,  and  it  was  to  last  for  three  days.  Men  who  drew  wood  would  cook  their 
rations,  and  as  soon  as  they  got  through  others  would  use  the  coals,  and  by 
blowing  them  they  could  partly  cook  the  meal  which  was  issued  to  them  and 
could  warm  the  meat.  I  have  seen  men  digging  for  roots  with  which  to  cook 
their  rations;  it  was  a  common  thing;  they  mostly  dug  for  them  in  the  swamp 

1  Space  3  by  8  feet  to  each  officer. 

2  Record,  p.  384  et  seq. 


182  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

on  each  side  of  the  creek,  the  north  side  more  particularly,  as  that  was  the  wider. 
When  it  rained  the  matter  from  the  camps  would  wash  down  into  the  swamp, 
and  it  was  filled  with  maggots.  They  must  have  been  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
inches  deep.  The  men  were  obliged  to  go  down  there  and  dig  in  that  swamp  to 
get  roots,  which  they  would  dry  in  the  sun. 

I  know  something  as  to  how  sick  men  were  treated  by  the  doctors.  It  was 
my  duty  at  seven  o'clock  each  morning  to  call  the  sick,  and  immediately  after 
roll-call  to  have  them  all  fall  in  and  march  up  to  sick-call  at  the  south  gate. 
Sometimes  three  or  four  thousand  prisoners  would  collect  around  this  gate  to 
gain  admission  outside.  There  was  a  very  small  space  to  pass  through  at  the 
gate,  and  when  there  were  so  many  prisoners  there,  over  30,000,  two  sentinels 
were  ordered  to  prevent  the  crowd  from  getting  close  to  the  gate  near  the  dead 
line,  and  those  who  went  out  were  admitted  in  one  rank;  each  sergeant  would 
call  his  men  and  march  them  out  through  the  gate.  When  they  got  outside 
there  were  fifteen  to  twenty  doctors  in  stalls;  each  doctor  attended  to  a  certain 
number  of  detachments.  I  have  taken  men  out  to  the  stall  of  a  doctor  named 
Williams,  I  think,  and  I  have  seen  men  crawl  up  there  on  their  hands  and  knees 
with  just  life  enough  in  them  to  get  to  the  stall  and  plead  to  be  either  taken 
out  to  the  hospital  or  to  have  proper  medicine  given  them,  something  by  which 
they  would  be  relieved  of  their  distress.  Those  men  the  doctor  would  order  to 
be  taken  back  into  the  stockade,  as  they  could  probably  live  till  to-morrow.  He 
would  say,  "Take  him  back  into  the  stockade;  he  will  live  until  to-morrow." 

TESTIMONY  OF  SAMUEL  J.  M.  ANDREWS. 

Samuel  J.  M.  Andrews,  17th  Illinois  Infantry,  was  a  prisoner  from 
April  27,  1864,  to  September,  1864.  He  testified  i1 

I  have  seen  men  die  suddenly  there;  I  remember  distinctly  seeing  two  men 
fall  over  and  die  upon  the  spot,  or  rather  fall  over  dead;  they  were  both  at  the 
sink  and  they  fell  forward  dead  while  there;  one  of  them  was  inside  the  stock 
ade  before  the  hospital  was  removed  outside;  the  other  was  in  the  hospital  after 
it  was  removed  outside ;  one  of  the  men  was  brought  over  to  my  tent ;  I  was 
nursing  at  the  time;  he  was  brought  over  one  day  and  died  the  next;  I  saw  one 
patient  in  the  hospital  with  ball  and  chain  attached  to  his  ankle;  he  was  so  weak 
that  he  was  hardly  able  to  walk;  I  saw  another  one  with  a  shackle  on  his  ankle; 
he  said  he  had  cut  the  ball  off;  he  had  no  ball  attached  at  the  time  I  saw  him, 
although  he  had  shackles  about  his  ankle;  I  do  not  know  with  what  disease  the 
man  was  suffering  who  had  the  ball  and  chain  on  him,  but  I  should  suppose  from 
his  appearance  it  was  diarrhoea;  I  do  not  know  what  was  the  matter  with  the 
other  man. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JOHN  A.   CAIN.2 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  I  enlisted  in  the  California 
Cavalry  Battalion,  at  San  Francisco. 

I  was  taken  prisoner  the  22d  February,  1864;  I  was  taken  to  Eichmond,  Vir 
ginia,  and  remained  there  three  or  four  days,  long  enough  to  be  searched  and  have 

1  Record,  p.  390. 

2  Record,  p.  393  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS.  183 

everything  taken  from  me  and  the  rest  of  us.  I  was  taken  from  there  to  An- 
dersonville,  and  arrived  at  Andersonville  on  the  10th  of  March,  1864;  it  was 
raining  very  hard  when  we  arrived  there,  about  two  o'clock  in  the  morning.  We 
were  drawn  up  in  line  four  deep,  about  1,000  of  us,  and  were  marched  through 
water  about  knee-deep;  a  great  many  of  the  men  were  very  sick  and  feeble; 
they  were  forced  to  walk  through  that  mud  and  water  about  knee-deep  to  the 
stockade,  a  distance  of  about  half  a  mile;  they  were  turned  loose  into  the  stock 
ade;  it  was  raining  hard  and  we  were  without  shelter  and  we  did  not  know 
where  to  go;  they  were  ordered  to  fall  in  the  next  morning  to  receive  orders 
how  we  were  to  proceed  while  there.  Being  very  dry  I  started  to  the  swamp  to 
get  some  water;  in  the  dark  I  fell  into  a  hole  headlong;  however,  after  some 
difficulty,  I  found  the  water  and  got  a  drink  and  started  back;  I  came  across 
several  shebangs,  as  we  called  them,  rudely  constructed  tents  and  covers  made 
out  of  pine  boughs  and  poles;  they  were  a  poor  excuse  for  covering;  the  rain 
was  beating  on  the  men  who  were  lying  under  them;  the  men  were  very  ema 
ciated  and  sick,  as  I  thought;  some  were  groaning.  We  had  some  little  talk  with 
them;  they  told  us  that  we  had  no  shelter  and  that  we  would  have  to  do  the  best 
we  could.  I  went  upon  the  shady  side  of  a  large  tree  and  stood  up  and  sat  down 
as  best  I  could  until  morning;  it  rained  until  daylight.  When  daylight  came,  I 
can  hardly  describe  the  scene  that  I  beheld — men  lying  around  in  all  directions 
sick,  very  sick  and  feeble;  most  of  them  were  Belle  Island  prisoners.  It  did  not 
matter  about  the  health  of  the  men;  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  healthiest  of  the 
men  took  sick  as  quick,  if  not  quicker,  than  some  of  those  who  were  weak.  Two  of 
my  own  comrades — stouter  or  heartier  men  never  lived — took  sick  the  next  day; 
I  did  not  know  from  what  cause  unless  it  was  from  change  of  water;  we  had  to 
carry  one  of  them  in  a  blanket  to  the  hospital.  This  hospital  was  only  a  few 
boards  thrown  together  very  temporarily  to  shed  the  rain  off  those  very  sick 
lying  in  there;  they  were  lying  in  their  own  filth,  with  nobody  to  take  care  of 
them.  When  I  visited  the  hospital  to  see  my  own  comrades,  men  would  appeal 
to  me  to  help  them  to  the  sink,  or  to  give  them  a  drink  of  water,  or  a  piece  of 
bread  or  something  of  that  kind;  I  very  nearly  got  sick  at  the  stomach  and 
had  to  leave  the  place.  About  ten  o'clock  that  day  I  was  ordered  to  the  other 
side  of  the  stockade;  the  place  was  very  steep,  rising  up  from  the  swamp;  it 
could  not  be  called  a  hill — it  was  a  bank,  inclining  at  an  angle  of  about  forty 
degrees;  I  was  allotted  to  a  place  on  that  bank  that  was  very  difficult  for  a  sick 
man  or  a  weak  man  to  ascend  without  good  help,  without  two  men  to  help  him; 
I  was  obliged  to  lie  there  until  I  was  taken  to  the  hospital.  I  got  scurvy  and 
diarrhoea  after  a  while ;  I  was  obliged  to  lie  there  without  shelter ;  we  sat  by  a 
fire  which  a  hat  would  cover  up,  made  of  pitch-pine  roots;  I  sat  there  for 
twenty  hours  at  one  time  in  the  rain;  it  rained  a  great  deal  during  the  month 
of  April.  We  could  not  cook  what  raw  rations  we  got;  I  very  often  mixed  up 
meal  and  ate  it  raw  for  want  of  wood  and  cooking  utensils.  We  got  a  little 
more  than  a  pint  of  meal;  that  was  before  Captain  Wirz  took  command;  we  got 
a  little  better  than  that  after  he  took  command.  The  rations  consisted  of  about 
a  pint  of  meal  and  a  half  a  pound  of  very  coarse  beef;  we  took  it  to  be  mule 
flesh;  it  looked  more  like  horse  or  mule  flesh  than  beef;  we  got  about  a  tea- 
spoonful  of  salt;  that  was  our  rations  for  twenty-four  hours;  I  very  often  ate 


184  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

my  beef  or  mule  flesh  raw;  I  just  picked  the  bones.  In  that  condition  I  lay 
on  that  side  of  the  hill  until  about  the  23d  of  May,  when  I  became  so  weak 
that  I  could  not  get  up  to  roll-call  in  the  morning.  Captain  Wirz's  sergeants 
ordered  all  the  sick  to  fall  in  every  morning,  if  they  had  to  be  carried  up;  I 
very  often  got  some  of  my  comrades  to  help  me  up  this  hill,  and  in  many  instances 
I  fainted  away  when  I  got  up.  One  time  at  the  top  of  the  hill  I  fainted  away 
and  was  conveyed  temporarily  to  a  little  tent,  consequently  missing  the  roll-call; 
the  sergeant  asked  where  I  was;  they  could  not  find  me;  and  he  ordered  my 
rations  to  be  stopped  that  day;  it  was  neglect  of  some  comrades  for  not  having 
me  up.  I  finally  got  discouraged  and  made  up  my  mind  to  die;  I  did  not  wish 
to  be  any  more  trouble  to  my  comrades,  and  I  went  over  to  the  gate  and  was 
successful  in  getting  to  the  hospital;  that  was  a  little  while  after  the  hospital  was 
moved  out  of  the  stockade,  about  the  23d  or  24th  of  May,  I  think.  What  tran 
spired  in  the  stockade  after  that  I  cannot  say,  except  as  I  might  see  the  victims 
of  Wirz's  cruelty  come  to  the  hospital.  I  was  paroled  as  a  nurse,  or  was  allowed 
the  privilege  of  nursing;  we  had  no  more  liberty  than  any  of  the  rest  of  the 
sick;  I  was  very  often  allowed  to  go  to  the  gate  to  help  sick  men  off  the  wagons 
or  ambulances,  or  to  carry  the  men  on  stretchers.  I  had  an  opportunity  there 
of  seeing  the  cook-house  and  of  seeing  the  rations  taken  out,  and  of  hearing 
news  of  the  inner  part  of  the  stockade. 

TESTIMONY  OF  GENERAL  J.  H.  WILSON. 

Major-General  J.  H.  Wilson  testified  with  regard  to  army  supplies 
in  Tennessee,  Georgia,  and  Alabama,  as  follows : x 

My  rank  in  the  United  States  military  service  is  captain  of  engineers,  United 
States  Army,  and  major-general  of  volunteers.  I  have  been  operating  for  the 
past  year  in  Tennessee,  Alabama,  and  Georgia,  with  the  cavalry  corps,  military 
division  of  the  Mississippi.  During  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1864  and  the 
early  part  of  the  year  1865  I  have  been  campaigning  in  Tennessee,  Georgia, 
and  Alabama.  I  am  stationed  at  Macon,  Georgia.  After  passing  through  the 
mountainous  region  of  northern  Alabama  I  found  supplies  in  great  abundance 
on  our  lines  of  march. — in  sufficient  abundance  to  supply  a  command  of  17,000 
men  without  going  off  our  lines  of  march  for  them.  On  going  south  I  marched 
southeast  from  the  northwest  corner  of  Alabama  to  a  point  called  Montebello, 
and  thence  south  to  Selma,  from  Selma  southward  to  Montgomery,  from  Mont 
gomery  two  lines,  one  to  Columbus,  Georgia,  and  the  other  to  West  Point, 
Georgia,  and  thence  by  two  converging  lines  to  Macon,  Georgia,  and  then  all 
over  the  State  of  Georgia,  from  there  to  the  Gulf.  We  found  lines  of  railway 
running  very  nearly  in  the  direction  of  the  march  from  Montebello.  The  rebel 
government,  before  the  invasion-  of  the  United  States  government,  drew  supplies 
from  that  part  of  the  country,  from  central  Alabama  to  southwestern  Georgia, 
for  the  wants  of  their  armies  operating  in  the  field;  that  was  their  grand  region 
of  supplies.  There  was  a  railroad  communication  between  the  parts  of  the  coun 
try  of  which  I  have  spoken,  and  Macon  and  Andersonville. 

1  Record,  p.  269  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIEES.  185 

General  Wilson  also  testified 'as  to  the  location  of  the  stockade,  the 
facilities  for  making  it  habitable,  the  availibility  of  wood  for  fuel; 
water  supply  and  other  matters.  He  testified  to  his  observations  made 
about  the  time  of  the  abandonment  of  the  prison,  and  it  must  be  ad 
mitted  that  the  facts  disclosed  by  the  witnesses  fully  justified  the 
court  in  taking  a  view  of  the  situation  similar  to  that '  expressed  by 
General  Wilson. 

GENERAL  WILSON'S  EXAMINATION  OF  THE  PRISON — ITS  CONDITION,  HIS 
OPINION  OF  ITS  LOCATION,  AND  WHAT  MIGHT  HAVE  BEEN  DONE  TO 
RELIEVE  THE  SUFFERINGS  OF  THE  PRISONERS. 

I  have  visited  Andersonville.  I  have  examined  the  state  of  the  prison  and 
the  buildings  there  and  the  country  generally  in  the  neighborhood  of  it.  I  pre 
sume  the  court  may  have  examined  this  drawing  of  the  prison;  it  was  made 
under  my  direction;  it  does  not  show  quite  well  enough  the  topography.  The 
stream  here  called  "Little  Sweet  Water"  is  a  large  creek  running  as  much  as  fifteen 
feet  in  width  and  five  feet  deep,  and  runs  only  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet 
from  the  corner  of  the  hospital  enclosure.  If  the  main  enclosure  had  been  simply 
enlarged  so  as  to  cross  that  creek,  which  could  have  been  done  very  easily,  it 
could  have  supplied  all  the  troops  that  could  possibly  have  been  put  there  with 
ample  water  both  for  culinary  purposes  and  for  the  purpose  of  police. 

The  timber  in  the  neighborhood  was  ample,  and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  it 
being  a  grain-growing  region,  the  means  of  supply  of  provisions  were  ample,  and 
the  means  of  getting  them  there  were  ample.  The  creek  on  which  the  prison 
was  located  is  not  a  large  one,  but  simply  a  spring  branch,  little  springs  running 
out  of  the  side  of  the  hill,  making  a  creek  which  I  suppose  will  not  run  more 
water  than  would  supply  for  the  purposes  of  an  army  a  larger  command  than 
four  or  five  thousand  men,  because  the  water  does  not  flow  rapidly. 

There  is  one  spring  inside  the  enclosure,  but  that  would  not  supply  more  than 
a  regiment  of  men,  as  troops  use  water  and  as  they  ought  to  use  it.  I  visited 
the  stockade  some  time  in  the  last  part  of  June  or  the  first  of  July,  this  year.  I 
found,  I  think,  the  remnants  of  some  ten  sheds  inside  the  stockade,  one  set  of 
five  on  one  end  of  the  stockade  and  the  other  on  the  other  end.  They  were 
simply  shed  roofs,  supported  by  ordinary  square  timber  cut  from  woods  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  covered  with  boards,  nothing  else.  I  observed  that  the  char 
acter  of  the  buildings  outside  the  stockade  was  temporary.  They  were  con 
structed  in  a  similar  manner  to  those  sheds,  except  that  the  sides  were  boarded 
up.  The  commissary  was  a  stockade  building,  formed  of  logs;  the  others  were 
generally  small  framed  buildings,  some  one  story  and  some  two  stories  high, 
and  made  of  boards.  My  impression  is  that  the  barracks  erected  for  the  use  of 
the  troops  on  garrison  there  were  such  as  troops  ordinarily  construct  for  them 
selves — huts.  There  were  some  barracks  (which  had,  perhaps,  been  used  as  a 
hospital)  which  were  fair  barracks  for  troops.  What  troops  ever  occupied  them 
I  could  not  say.  I  noticed  the  surrounding  timber.  It  is  a  well-timbered  re 
gion,  a  region  abounding  in  fine  timber  of  a  character  very  easily  worked — pine 
particularly.  Northwest  from  the  stockade  there  is  a  large  pine  forest,  and  that 


186  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

immediate  region  being  a  poor  region,  has.  not  been  generally  cultivated,  and 
this  forest  was  undisturbed.  It  could  have  been  used  for  getting  out  shelter 
very  readily.  It  is  just  such  a  place  as  troops  would  like  to  camp  in  for  the 
convenience  of  wood  and  water  and  such  things  as  that,  if  they  were  going  to 
make  winter  quarters,  aside  from  mere  climatic  reasons.  I  have  nothing  to  say 
in  reference  to  that.  I  should  say  that  it  would  require  to  enlarge  the  inner 
stockade  one  third  about  1,800  feet  of  additional  stockading  to  be  put  up,  and 
the  outer  one  about  2,400  feet.  It  would  require  about  forty  days'  work  for  one 
hundred  men,  working  as  soldiers  work,  but  one  hundred  men  could  do  the  work 
in  twenty  days,  provided  they  did  a  full  day's  work  and  had  all  the  appliances 
for  transporting  timber  from  the  forest — they  would  not  have  to  transport  it  more 
than  a  mile  on  the  average — and  all  the  necessary  appliances  for  digging,  &c. 
There  was  plenty  of  black  labor  to  be  had  in  that  country.  I  found  no  difficulty 
in  obtaining  laborers;  the  difficulty  was  in  getting  rid  of  them.  You  could  get 
all  the  labor  required  there  for  any  purpose  of  that  kind. 

Q.  State  if  you  are  able  to  make  an  estimate,  allowing  that  30,000  prisoners 
were  confined  in  the  stockade  and  that  half  of  them,  15,000,  were  supplied  cooked 
rations,  what  amount  of  wood  would  have  been  required  to  cook  the  rations  is 
sued  to  the  remaining  15,000,  consisting  simply  of  corn-meal,  bacon,  and  peas. 

A.  That  question  is  somewhat  complicated;  it  would  depend  entirely  on  the 
appliances  used  in  cooking.  The  quartermaster's  monthly  allowance  for  wood, 
I  think,  in  summer  time,  or  from  May  till  October,  is  a  cord  for  every  twelve 
men;  that  would  require  about  1,250  cords  to  15,000  men,  and  that  I  think~Is  a 
very  fair  estimate.  A  man  can  cut  two  cords  of  wood  a  day  if  he  tries;  in  that 
timber  certainly  a  workman  would  cut  two  cords  a  day,  but  a  soldier  probably 
would  cut  only  one;  and  it  is  a  liberal  estimate,  because  it  would  not  have  to  be 
split  up.  About  thirty  men  per  day  would  cut  all  the  wood  required  or  allowed 
by  the  quartermaster's  regulations  for  15,000  men,  and  a  guard  of  ten,  fifteen, 
or  twenty  men  would  be  ample  to  protect  that  number  of  men  in  the  work.  If 
you  take  the  winter  allowance  it  would  be  just  double.  I  think  they  allow  one 
cord  of  wood  per  month  for  six  men  in  winter  time,  and,  as  a  matter  of  course, 
it  requires  sixty  men  to  do  the  work. 

There  was  lateral  drainage  in  the  stockade,  of  course,  from  both  ends  of  the 
stockade  to  the  creek  which  runs  through  it.  There  was  no  sewerage  system 
that  I  could  observe,  excepting  such  as  would  naturally  result  from  the  formation 
of  the  ground.  I  observed  no  artificial  drainage. 

By  the  COURT: 

I  have  spoken  of  sheds  I  saw  in  the  stockade.  They  remained  there  when 
I  was  in  the  stockade.  I  found  nothing  in  the  way  of  habitations,  huts,  con 
veniences,  &c.,  for  the  protection  of  the  men.  I  understood  that  those  sheds 
were  used  for  the  protection  of  those  in  the  stockade  whose  health  was  worse 
than  that  of  others.  The  men  had,  for  protection,  burrowed  both  in  the  level 
part  of  the  ground  and  in  the  inclined  part  on  the  hillside,  particularly  in  the 
hillside.  Those  constructions  assimilated  to  tents,  but  they  were  made  in  the 
ground.  I  presume  they  must  have  been  covered  over  with  fragments  of  boards 
and  blankets  and  shelter  tents  and  such  things  as  they  could  get  there,  but  there 
was  no  evidence  of  anything  of  that  kind  being  there.  There  was  just  as  many 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIERS.  187 

as  could  be  put  in  that  space  of  ground,  and  I  suppose  it  was  very  close  pack 
ing,  for  I  saw  no  means  of  passing  between  them.  I  saw  the  interior  of  some  of 
them ;  I  stooped  down  into  them.  I  should  say  as  a  general  thing  that  the 
character  of  them  was  about  like  the  ordinary  shelter  made  by  combining  two 
shelter  tents;  they  might  hold  four  men,  but  they  would  be  very  crowded. 

Cross-examined  by  counsel: 

I  stepped  down  into  the  excavation  which  was  used  as  a  ground-floor  or  base 
ment.  I  saw  no  tunnels  running  under  the  stockade.  I  was  told  there  had  been 
something  of  that  kind  attempted.  I  examined  half  a  dozen  or  so  of  those  holes; 
I  could  see  them  all  around  in  riding  over  the  ground.  They  all  had  the  appear 
ance  of  being  houses  for  protection.  I  saw  one  particular  kind  of  hole  that 
I  did  not  understand,  circular  shafts  of  the  diameter  of  six  feet,  and  sunk  as 
far  as  I  could  see.  They  might  be  wells.  They  were  up  on  the  hill,  which  was 
some  eighty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  country,  and  they  may  have  been  made 
deep  so  as  to  get  to  water,  which,  if  the  water  was  at  the  ordinary  level,  would 
be  forty  or  fifty  feet.  I  examined  them  the  last  part  of  June  or  first  of  July. 

By  the  COURT: 

If  they  took  crooked  timber  to  enlarge  the  stockade  the  men  would  have 
crawled  between  the  joints,  but  the  timber  in  that  country  does  not  grow  crooked; 
as  a  general  thing  it  is  very  straight.  They  could  have  erected  a  perfectly  se 
cure  stockade  without  squaring  the  timber;  axes  and  shovels  were  the  only  things 
necessary.  Saws  and  a  few  hammers  might  have  been  used  occasionally,  but 
axes  and  shovels  would  have  done  the  work.  Our  soldiers  generally  worked  with 
those,  and  they  could  make  almost  anything.  I  believe  there  were  some  few 
implements  of  that  kind  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  our  troops,  but  what  number 
I  don't  pretend  to  say.  Afterwards  I  put  a  man  in  charge  of  the  place  in  order 
to  protect  it,  and  I  think  he  reported  to  me  that  he  had  found  a  few. tools;  how 
many  he  did  not  say.  The  court  may  have  misunderstood  what  I  said  in  reply 
to  the  question  how  long  it  would  take  to  enlarge  the  capacity  of  the  stockade 
one  third.  I  did  not  mean  to  state  the  time  which  it  would  take  to  extend  it 
across  the  creek.  I  think,  however,  that  it  would  have  taken  but  little  longer  to 
extend  it  across  the  creek  and  take  in  all  the  ground  that  would  have  been  neces 
sary  for  any  number  of  prisoners  that  might  have  been  put  there. 

I  would  not  undertake  to  say  that  the  addition  of  one  third  would  have  in 
cluded  Sweet  Water  creek,  though  possibly  it  might. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  The  court  will  remember  that  Dr.  Eldridge  in  his  re 
port  said  that  it  ought  to  have  been  extended  in  that  direction. 

WITNESS.  There  is  no  question  about  that,  because  then  the  prisoners  would 
have  had  the  use  of  an  ample  stream  of  running  water  all  the  time — ample  for 
any  number  of  troops — a  stream  that  could  not  have  been  exhausted,  instead  of 
this  little  branch. 

By  counsel: 

The  larger  creek  is  called  Little  Sweet  Water  creek.  All  three  creeks  come 
together  within  a  half  of  a  mile.  I  examined  Little  Sweet  Water  creek  with 
some  care;  I  waded  into  it.  At  the  time  I  examined  it,  it  was  about  twenty- 
five  feet  wide  and  about  four  and  a  half  feet  deep;  that  was  just  after  a  rain,  but 
by  inquiry  of  citizens  in  the  neighborhood  I  learned  that  the  stream  was  then 


188  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

at  its  usual  stage,  though  probably  somewhat  swollen.  By  a  rough  calculation 
I  infer  that  the  average  width  of  the  stream  was  about  fifteen  feet  and  the  aver 
age  depth  about  five  feet,  with  a  velocity  of  probably  a  mile  an  hour;  it  might 
not  be  so  much.  It  is  rather  a  sluggish  stream,  though  the  water  is  clear  and 
apparently  sweet  and  good.  At  the  bottom,  the  creek  is  somewhat  wide,  and  it 
shelves  off  very  gradually.  It  has  not  steep  banks. 

Q.     You  said  you  thought  the  stream  was  about  four  and  a  half  feet  deep? 

A.  I  am  striking  an  average  of  the  size  of  the  stream,  in  order  to  state  the 
volume  of  water  that  passes  through  it. 

By  the  COURT: 

Q.  From  the  construction  of  the  stockade  and  the  general  appearance  of  the 
work,  was  there,  in  your  opinion,  any  exhibition  of  intelligent  engineering? 

A.  It  was  intelligent  enough  for  the  purpose,  but  it  did  not  exhibit  any  very 
humane  engineering.  It  was  simply  an  enclosure  stockade,  and  made  safe  for 
men  to  go  into,  with  no  earthly  preparation  that  I  could  see  for  their  comfort; 
and  if  there  ever  were  30,000  men  there,  as  I  have  been  told  there  were,  that 
would  explain  very  readily  the  cause  of  the  deaths.  There  were  12,000  to  15,000 
graves  outside.  I  have  been  told  that  originally  a  six-horse  wagon  was  used  in 
hauling  provisions,  but  that  the  stockade  afterwards  became  so  crowded  that  a 
wagon  could  not  go  in  at  all,  so  that  a  cart  was  used  instead.  Whether  that  be 
true  or  not  I  cannot  say.  I  conceived  it  to  be  very  reasonable,  if  there  were 
30,000  men  inside  the  stockade.  The  improvements  which  suggested  themselves 
to  me  were  perfectly  apparent  to  anybody. 

By  counsel: 

Any  engineer  could  have  seen  what  I  suggested,  and  any  humane  man  could 
have  seen  that  the  prison  was  either  located  for  a  very  much  smaller  number, 
or  if  located  for  that  number,  it  was  with  the  intention  that  they  should  not  have 
the  benefit  of  water  or  fuel,  and  the  graves  there  led  me  to  the  inference  that  it 
was  intended  they  should  not  have  the  benefit  of  provisions  either;  the  want  of 
water,  fuel,  and  the  lack  of  shelter  are  apparent  ;i  I  did  not  notice  where  the 
stockade  had  been  enlarged;  I  could  not  distinguish  where  it  had  been  extended; 
I  have  been  told  that  it  had  been  enlarged,  and  I  think  that  it  had  probably  been 
extended  towards  the  north;  I  should  infer  that  the  stream  ran  through  the 
middle  of  it,  if  my  inference  in  regard  to  its  enlargement  is  correct.  The  stream 
now  runs  about  one  third  of  the  distance  from  the  southern  end,  leaving  two 
thirds  of  the  enclosure  north  of  the  stream  and  one  third  south;  if  I  was  to  make 
my  own  inference  I  should  simply  say  that  if  that  prison  had  been  designed  for 
2,500  or  3,000  men,  of  the  size  originally  constructed,  it  would  be  a  very  good 
prison  if  it  had  the  other  appliances  necessary  for  their  comfort;  there  would  be 
at  least  plenty  of  water.  I  should  say  there  had  never  been  any  accommodations 
there  for  any  number  of  prisoners.  The  little  bake-house  was  probably  the  only 
thing  that  assimilated  to  any  accommodations  for  the  prisoners;  there  were  two 
or  three  ovens  in  that;  that  was  the  only  place  that  I  saw  that  looked  like  in 
tending  to  give  the  prisoners  that  comfort  which  it  was  necessary  for  them  to 
have;  it  was  a  very  good  place  for  two  thousand  men,  but  a  very  bad  one  for 
thirty-three  thousand.  My  own  impression  is  that  for  an  encampment  of  two  or 

1  Can  any  other  inference  be  drawn  from  the  facts? 


TESTIMONY  OF  UNION  SOLDIEES.  189 

three  thousand  men,  it  would  be  as  healthy  as  any  one  in  the  country.  If  I  had 
been  travelling  through  the  country  and  had  been  going  to  make  a  camp,  I  would 
have  made  it  right  on  the  edge  of  Sweet  Water  creek  j  I  would  not  have .  liked, 
probably,  to  have  gone  there  to  winter  my  command  or  to  stay  there  forever. 

By  the  COURT: 

I  should  say  that  the  swamp  in  the  stockade  would  be  very  unhealthy  in 
summer  time;  it  has  a  tolerably  wide  bottom,  quite  alluvial,  the  water  sluggish, 
and  would  be  very  apt  to  breed  miasma.  As  to  the  condition  of  the  swamp  be 
yond  the  prison,  I  did  not  examine  it  at  all.  There  is  a  little  swamp  in  Sweet 
Water  creek,  one  that  would  be  unhealthy  after  taking  the  timber  off  it  and 
letting  it  be  exposed.  The  ground  would  have  been  quite  as  good  there,  and 
probably  better,  because  where  it  was  the  ground  washed  a  good  deal;  the  men 
in  burrowing  disturbed  the  soil  and  it  washed  down  into  the  creek,  but  the  Sweet 
Water  creek  was  large  enough  to  clear  itself;  the  ground  was  not  so  that  the 
washing  of  the  camps  would  wash  into  it;  I  hardly  think  so  much  on  the  "Little 
Sweet  Water"  as  the  other;  I  think  the  slope  at  the  "Little  Sweet  Water"  is 
more  gradual  and  gentle;  being  a  very  large  creek,  it  would  necessarily  be  so. 
At  the  little  creek  the  escarpments  are  very  sharp  and  it  could  not  clear  itself  very 
readily,  particularly  when  covered  across  by  the  stockade,  forming  drains  in  it. 
I  think  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  desirability  of  the  two  locations;  if 
you  were  going  to  put  a  prison  there,  ordinary  humanity  would  require  that  it 
should  be  put  across  the  main  creek,  if  it  were  intended  to  accommodate  such  a 
large  number  of  men;  it  would  have  been  only  three-quarters  of  a  mile  from  the 
depot;  the  creek  runs  up  in  that  direction  and  it  may  possibly  cross  the  railroad. 

TESTIMONY  OF   COLONEL  GEORGE  WELLING. 

Colonel  George  Welling,  who  was  in  General  Wilson's  command, 
testified  as  follows:1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  for  four  years  as 
lieutenant  colonel  Fourth  Kentucky  Cavalry.  My  regiment  was  ordered  to  Albany, 
Georgia.  I  took  the  command  of  the  post  about  the  first  of  May.  I  passed 
very  often  up  and  down  the  railroad  from  Albany  to  Macon;  I  stopped  at  An- 
dersonville  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  at  a  time.  I  was  never  at  the  stockade. 
I  was  with  General  Wilson's  command  from  the  time  it  left  the  Tennessee  Eiver 
until  we  left  that  part  of  the  country,  about  the  20th  of  last  August.  The  Con 
federate  commissaries  and  quartermasters  who  were  located  at  Albany  turned 
over  the  stores  and  provisions  they  had  there.  There  were  thirty-one  thousand 
pounds  of  bacon  turned  over  by  Captain  John  Davis,  Confederate  commissary; 
seven  hundred  bags  of  salt;  the  amount  of  corn  I  do  not  recollect.  There  was 
a  large  quantity  of  corn  and  bacon  in  the  country  through  which  we  passed. 
Parties  after  we  went  there  proposed  to  supply  us  with  any  quantities  needed 
to  supply  General  Wilson's  army.  There  were  three  grain  mills  in  the  vicinity. 
The  mill  at  Albany,  which  was  built  by  the  Confederate  government,  had,  two  run 
of  stones.  A  mill  some  four  miles  from  there,  which  I  never  visited,  had,  I  un 
derstood,  the  same  number.  That  mill  at  Albany  was  capable  of  grinding  from 
four  to  five  hundred  bushels  of  corn  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  This  mill  turned 
1  Record,  p.  276. 


190  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

over  to  us  by  the  Confederate  government  at  Albany  had  a  very  good  bolting 
cloth  in  it,  and  ground  very  good  flour.  We  made  very  good  flour  in  it  after  we 
took  possession  of  it.  They  had  a  bakery  there  with  four  ovens,  where  they 
baked  hard  bread;  some  of  that  hard  bread  that  I  have  seen  was  very  good. 
Albany  is  thirty-five  miles  by  railroad  from  Andersonville.  The  Confederate 
government  turned  over  to  us  some  twenty-odd  wagons.  In  the  corral  there 
were  probably  thirty  or  forty  mules;  a  good  many  teams  had  been  lent  out  to 
parties  when  they  found  we  were  coming  there.  Some  of  them  we  gathered  up 
afterwards.  [To  the  COURT.]  I  should  say  there  were  from  fifty  to  a  hundred 
head  of  mule  stock  there,  enough  to  run  the  wagons  that  were  turned  over. 
Farmers  along  the  line  of  march  from  Macon  to  Albany  had  generally  ox  teams 
with  which  to  transport  grain.  They  had  them  on  almost  every  plantation.  At 
Vienna  there  had  been  considerable  stores,  but  the  citizens  had  made  a  raid  upon 
them  when  they  heard  we  were  coming,  and  had  taken  possession  of  bacon  and 
corn  and  stock  and  had  scattered  it.  I  should  judge  Vienna  is  about  forty  miles 
from  Andersonville. 

GOLDWIN  SMITH  ON  TREATMENT  OP  PRISONERS. 

In  Goldwin  Smith's  "Reminiscences,"  published  in  McClure's,  Sep 
tember,  1910,  are  found  some  observations  upon  the  Civil  War.  He 
was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  journalists  "of  his  time  and  had  been 
for  forty  years  among  the  foremost  North  American  thinkers  and 
scholars.  Of  prison  life  during  the  war,  North  and  South,  he  said : 

It  seemed  to  me  that  at  the  North,  generally,  there  was  a  remarkable  absence 
of  truculence.  The  determination  was  fixed  to  subdue  the  South  and  restore  the 
Union.  But  I  heard  few  expressions  of  thirst  for  revenge  such  as  were  heard 
the  other  day  from  loyalists  at  Cape  Town.  Prisoners  of  war  were  well  treated. 
I  visited  the  prison  camp  at  Chicago  and  saw  that  its  inmates  were  well  fed  and 
were  suffering  no  hardships  beyond  that  of  confinement.  If  they  died  under  im 
prisonment,  it  was  as  the  eagle  dies.  I  visited  the  prisoners'  hospital  at  Balti 
more,  went  through  every  part  of  it,  and  satisfied  myself  that  the  treatment  was 
good.  My  visit  was  unannounced.  On  Thanksgiving  Day  the  table  was  spread 
with  the  good  things  of  the  season.  I  record  this  as  an  answer  to  the  charges  of 
cruelty  rife  at  the  time  in  England.  It  was  the  more  notable  as  the  treatment  of 
Federal  prisoners  in  some  of  the  Confederate  prisons  was  known  to  be  inhuman. 
In  the  Andersonville  prison  camp  it  was  devilish,  and  such  as  no  want  of  re 
sources  on  the  part  of  the  captors  could  excuse.  I  saw  at  Annapolis  the  first 
batch  of  prisoners  exchanged  from  Andersonville;  they  were  living  skeletons.  No 
laws  of  war  can  warrant  the  detention  of  prisoners  whom  a  captor  cannot  feed. 
They  ought  to  be  released  on  parole. 

Here  is  the  question  stated  in  a  nutshell.  If  the  rebel  government 
found  itself  incapable  of  feeding  its  prisoners  they  should  have  been 
paroled.  It  would  have  been  no  more  reprehensible  to  have  taken  the 
prisoners  out  and  shot  them  than  to  have  deliberately  starved  them 
to  death,  as  was  done. 


TESTIMONY  OF  "UNION  SOLDIEES.  191 

SHERMAN'S  MARCH  TO  THE  SEA — PROVISIONS  ABUNDANT  IN  GEORGIA. 

General  Sherman  began  his  march  to  the  sea  through  Georgia  on 
November  15,  1864,  and  subsisted  his  army  of  65,000  men  mainly  from 
food  supplies  found  in  the  country.  He  started  with  5,000  beeves 
on  the  hoof  and  had  10,000  when  he  reached  Savannah.  And  yet, 
thousands  of  Union  prisoners  of  war  were  starving  to  death  at  Ander- 
sonville,  west  of  his  line  of  march  and,  unfortunately,  too  far  to 
admit  of  an  expedition  for  their  relief.  How  futile  now  to  put  for 
ward  as  a  fact  in  defense  that  food  for  the  prisoners  could  not  be 
procured.  I  quote  briefly  from  General  Sherman's  Memoirs : 

We  found  abundance  of  corn,  molasses,  meal,  bacon  and  sweet  potatoes.  We 
also  took  a  good  many  cows  and  oxen  and  a  large  number  of  mules.  In  all  these 
the  country  was  quite  rich.  .  .  .  The  recent  crop  had  been  excellent,  had  just 
been  gathered  and  laid  by  for  the  winter.  As  a  rule,  we  destroyed  none,  but  kept 
our  wagons  full  and  fed  our  teams  bountifully.  (Vol.  2,  p.  182.) 

The  army  camped  on  General  Howell  Cobb's  plantation  near 
Milledgeville,  the  Georgia  state  capital. 

General  Sherman  says:  "Of  course,  we  confiscated  his  property 
and  found  it  rich  in  corn,  beans,  peanuts  and  sorghum  molasses. 
Extensive  fields  were  around  his  home." 

On  December  16,  1864,  General  Sherman  wrote  General  Grant 
from  near  Savannah: 

Fortunately  by  liberal  and  judicious  foraging  we  reached  the  seaeoast  abundantly 
supplied  with  forage  and  provisions,  needing  nothing  on  arrival  except  bread.  .  .  . 
We  started  with  about  five  thousand  head  of  cattle  and  arrived  with  over  ten 
thousand,  of  course  consuming  turkeys,  chickens,  sheep,  hogs  and  cattle  of  the 
country,  (p.  208.) 

Again : 

The  property  captured  consisted  of  horses  and  mules  by  the  thousand,  and  of 
quantities  of  subsistence  stores  that  aggregate  very  large,  but  may  be  measured 
with  sufficient  accuracy  by  assuming  that  the  sixty-five  thousand  men  obtained 
abundant  food  for  about  forty  days,  and  thirty-five  thousand  animals  fed  for  a 
like  period,  so  as  to  reach  Savannah  in  splendid  flesh  and  condition.* 

1  See  map  of  Georgia,  chap.  V,  which  shows  Sherman's  course  from  Atlanta  to  Savannah, 
far  to  the  east  of  Andersonville. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

CONDITIONS  AT  PRISON  (CONTINUED) — TESTIMONY  OF  FATHER  HAMILTON  AND 
OTHER  WITNESSES  CALLED  FOR  THE  DEFENSE — HORRORS  OF  THE  PRISON  PEN  CON 
FIRMED — WITNESSES  FOR  DEFENSE  CORROBORATE  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  PROSECU 
TION  IN  MANY  ESSENTIAL  PARTICULARS — DIARY  OF  KEY.  FATHER  CLAVEREUL — 
FATHER  CLAVEREUL'S  ACCOUNT  A  MOST  PATHETIC  PICTURE  OF  HUMAN  SUF 
FERING. 

THERE  were  thirty-two  witnesses  called  and  sworn  for  the  defense. 
Of  these,  twelve  were  Union  soldiers,  prisoners  at  Andersonville ; 
four  were  rebel  surgeons  who  had  been  on  duty  at  Andersonville,  and 
were  witnesses  for  the  prosecution;  five  were  rebel  officers  on  duty  at 
Andersonville,  four  of  whom  were  witnesses  for  the  prosecution ;  four 
were  rebel  officers  on  duty  at  Richmond,  one  of  whom  was  a  witness 
for  the  prosecution;  one  was  a  rebel  officer  on  duty  at  Macon;  two 
were  rebel  soldiers  on  duty  at  Andersonville,  one  of  whom  testified 
for  the  prosecution ;  three  were  clergymen  who  resided  in  the  south  and 
visited  Andersonville,  one  of  whom,  Father  Hamilton,  was  a  witness 
for  the  prosecution ;  and  Miss  Rawson,  who  resided  "on  the  plains  of 
Dura,  Georgia,"  completed  the  number. 

The  witnesses  were  called  to  meet  certain  of  the  various  phases  of 
the  evidence  submitted  by  the  prosecution.  At  present  we  are  dealing 
only  with  evidence  bearing  upon  the  first  charge  and  some  parts  of 
its  specifications — i.  e.  with  the  charge  of  conspiracy  "to  injure  the 
health  and  destroy  the  lives  of  soldiers  in  the  military  service  of  the 
United  States,  then  held  and  being  prisoners  of  war  within  the  lines 
of  the  so-called  Confederate  States  and  in  the  military  prisons  thereof, 
to  the  end  that  the  armies  of  the  United  States  might  be  weakened 
and  impaired;  in  violation  of  the  laws  and  customs  of  war." 

The  evidence  has  thus  far  been  directed  to  the  establishment  of  the 
prison;  its  management,  the  effect  upon  the  prisoners  there  confined, 
and  to  show  upon  whom  rested  the  responsibility.  The  acts  of  cruelty 
charged,  as  in  furtherance  of  the  design  to  kill  and  destroy  these  pris 
oners,  such  as  subjecting  them  to  cruel,  unusual  and  infamous  punish 
ment,  by  "fastening  large  balls  of  iron  to  their  feet,"  and  binding 
numbers  of  them  together  "with  large  chains  around  their  necks"; 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  193 

subjecting  them  "to  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun  without  food  or 
drink" ;  establishing  a  "dead-line" ;  pursuing  escaped  prisoners  with 
ferocious  dogs,  thereby  maiming  many — and  other  specifications  of 
specific-  acts  of  cruelty,  remain  to  be  shown  in  subsequent  chapters. 
There  also  remains  the  evidence  relating  to  charge  2 — "Murder  in  vio 
lation  of  the  laws  of  war,"  and  its  specifications. 

In  presenting  the  evidence  offered  by  the  prisoner,  which  it  is  but 
fair  should  be  done,  it  will  in  this  connection  be  confined  with  some 
exceptions,  to  matters  already  dealt  with. 

Let  us  begin  with  the  testimony  of  Rev.  Father  Peter  Whelan.  It 
bears  upon  some  points  to  be  considered  under  charge  2,  but  his  tes 
timony  will  be  given  substantially  in  its  entirety. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Davis,  in  his  Belford  article,  quoted 
Rev.  Father  Whelan  as  saying  that  he  was  dismissed  by  the  judge 
advocate,  upon  finding  out  what  he  would  testify  to,  and  was  not 
allowed  to  be  called  by  the  prisoner.  Mr.  Davis  must  have  misunder 
stood  Father  Whelan,  for  no  one  knew  better  than  Father  Whelan 
that  the  statement  was  not  true.  He  was  called  by  and  testified  for 
the  prisoner,  and  whatever  benefit  it  was  to  him  as  a  defense,  will  be 
now  given.1  The  reader  cannot  help  contrasting  his  testimony  with 
that  of  Father  Hamilton,  both  men  of  undoubted  probity — the  one 
withholding  nothing  from  his  narrative,  the  other  obviously  disposed 
to  minimize  the  horror  of  his  surroundings,  and  yet  unwilling  to  con 
ceal  the  awfulness  of  the  situation  of  these  wretched  prisoners,  when 
questioned  directly  to  the  point.  He  testified: 

TESTIMONY  OF  REV.  PETER  WHELAN. 

My  office  is  that  of  a  priest;  I  was  in  Andersonville  from  the  16th  of  June, 
1864,  till  near  the  1st  of  October.  The  previous  portion  of  the  year  I  was  at 
Savannah,  except  for  some  time,  when  I  went  to  attend  Catholics  in  the  Con 
federate  camps. 

Q.  State  how  you  happened  to  go  to  Andersonville,  whom  you  saw  and  met 
there,  and  all  about  your  duties  there. 

A.  Father  Hamilton  had  visited  the  place  in  May,  seen  the  condition  of  the 
prisoners,  and  written  to  the  bishop  at  Savannah  to  send  a  priest  there.  He 
asked  me  to  go  and  visit  the  prisoners.  According  to  his  request  I  went ;  I  stayed 
there  until  nearly  the  1st  of  October,  from,  I  may  say,  the  16th  of  June,  1864; 
I  stayed  until  the  vast  portion  of  the  prisoners  were  removed  to  other  points; 
I  would  have  stayed  longer  if  the  prisoners  had  been  retained;  my  duties  were 
those  of  a  Catholic  priest — nothing  more;  I  had  no  commission  from  the  govern 
ment;  I  went  there  voluntarily,  without  pay  or  remuneration,  further  than  merely 


Record,  p.  426. 


194  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

to  receive  rations.  ...  I  never  saw  Captain  Wirz  inflicting  any  personal  vio 
lence  on  any  prisoner;  neither  did  I  hear  of  it  during  my  stay  there;  I  might 
have  heard  reports  that  he  used  profane  language,  but  I  never  saw  or  heard  of 
him  using  any  personal  violence  there  so  as  to  produce  death;  it  is  the  highest 
probability  that  such  a  thing  could  not  have  occurred  without  coming  to  my 
knowledge.  .  .  . 

Q.  When  you  returned  to  the  stockade  after  being  outside  did  the  prisoners 
gather  around  you  in  crowds? 

A.  They  often  collected  around  me  in  crowds  to  ask  questions,  but  I  never 
stopped  to  answer;  I  always  passed  on;  if  I  had  stopped  with  every  crowd 
that  collected,  I  could  not  have  discharged  my  duties  as  a  clergyman  to  those 
who  were  sick  and  dying;  I  was  therefore  necessitated  not  to  answer  them,  be 
cause  they  would  have  taken  up  so  much  of  my  time ;  sometimes  they  would  ask  me 
in  reference  to  reports  they  had  heard;  I  would  pass  on  and  say  nothing  to  them. 
There  may  have  been  some  reports  to  the  effect  that  persons  were  torn  by  dogs.  I 
may  have  heard  of  persons  who  had  been  hunted  down  by  dogs,  but  whether  they 
were  torn  by  the  dogs  or  not  I  could  not  positively  say.  If  I  had  heard  of  such 
a  thing  it  is  more  than  probable  I  would  have  remembered  it.  I  cannot  say 
positively.  Captain  Wirz  afforded  me  every  facility  to  visit  the  prisoners  and 
afford  them  any  relief  that  was  in  my  power.  He  never  put  any  obstacles  in  my 
way,  whether  physical  or  spiritual.  ...  He  never  showed  any  objection  to 
give  me  at  any  time  a  pass  to  go  into  the  stockade  or  hospital.  I  applied  to  him 
in  January,  1865,  about  taking  some  provisions  to  the  prisoners.  I  borrowed 
$16,000  and  went  down  to  Andersonville.  I  spoke  to  Captain  Wirz  and  he  freely 
gave  me  permission  to  purchase  flour  for  the  prisoners.  I  gave  the  money  to  a 
gentleman  in  Americus  of  the  name  of  Wynne,  and  he  purchased  the  flour  and 
sent  it  to  Captain  Wirz.  I  think  that  he  wrote  a  letter  to  Father  Hamilton 
stating  that  he  did  so.  When  I  applied  to  him  about  it  he  mentioned  to  me  that 
he  would  have  to  take  the  flour  in  his  own  charge  and  see  that  it  was  cooked  and 
distributed  in  bread  to  the  prisoners.  I  could  not  say  whether  it  was  distributed. 

I  administered  to  five  of  the  prisoners  who  were  hanged.  There  was  one  of 
them  who  was  not  a  Catholic.  They  were  arrested  as  raiders  in  the  stockade, 
together  with  several  more  who  were  not  condemned.  There  was  a  court-martial 
of  the  prisoners  held  on  these  men  and  six  of  them  were  condemned.  They  were 
put  in  the  stocks.  I  visited  them  the  evening  before  they  were  hanged  and  gave 
them  all  the  consolations  of  religion  that  it  was  possible  for  me  to  do.  The 
next  morning  Captain  Wirz  came  down  to  carry  them  to  the  stockade  to  be 
delivered  to  the  prisoners  there.  I  asked  him  to  delay  their  execution  for  another 
day.  He  said  to  me  that  it  was  out  of  his  power.  They  were  prisoners  who 
were  plundering  or  robbing  and  using  violence  on  other  prisoners.  That  was  what 
I  considered  as  what  was  designated  raiders.  They  were  brought  in  by  Captain 
Wirz  with  a  company  of  soldiers.  I  cannot  precisely  give  the  words  that  he  used, 
but  I  can  give  the  substance  of  them.  My  feelings  were  engrossed  by  the  con 
demned  men  and  my  attention  was  turned  to  giving  them  all  the  consolation  of 
religion  before  they  passed  off  into  eternity.  Captain  Wirz  said  something  like 
this:  "Boys,  I  have  taken  these  men  out  and  now  I  return  them  to  you,  having 
taken  good  care  of  them.  I  now  commit  them  to  you.  You  can  do  with  them 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  195 

as  you  see  fit."  Then  turning  around  to  the  condemned  men  he  said,  "May  the 
Lord  have  mercy  on  your  souls."  The  men  were  then  placed  on  a  platform  or 
gallows.  They  begged  of  me  to  make  an  appeal  to  their  comrades — an  appeal  to 
spare  them  from  execution.  I  made  it  to  their  fellow-prisoners.  There  was  a 
hollow  square  formed  with  the  six  men  and  myself  inside  of  it.  One  of  them 
broke  loose.  He  said  he  would  not  ascend  the  scaffold,  and  he  broke  through 
the  line  and  ran  into  the  swamp.  A  number  of  men  followed  and  brought  him 
back.  They  were  his  fellow-prisoners.  After  the  men  were  hanged  they  were 
cut  down  and  buried.  They  carried  them  outside  the  stockade  and  buried  them 
in  a  separate  part  of  the  graveyard,  I  believe.  The  last  time  I  visited  the  grave 
yard  I  saw  a  place  where  I  understood  these  six  men  were  buried,  separate  and 
distinct  from  the  rest.  .  .  . 

Q.  From  your  intimacy  with  Captain  Wirz  while  you  were  there  can  you  state 
to  the  court  what  was  his  general  conduct,  as  to  kindness  or  harshness,  towards 
the  prisoners? 

A.  I  think  I  never  saw  him  within  the  stockade  except  the  time  the  men  were 
hanged. 

Q.     I  mean  generally,  inside,  outside,  and  everywhere  else. 

A.     He  was  always  calm  and  kind  to  me. 

Q.     Was  he  to  others,  so  far  as  you  saw? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  I  have  seen  him  commit  no  violence.  He  may  sometimes  have 
spoken  harshly  to  some  of  the  prisoners. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  hear  there  of  the  atrocities  that  have  been  developed  in  this 
court,  or  of  his  personal  cruelties  at  all? 

A.     I  have  not  all  the  testimony  before  me. 

Q.     Did  you  hear  of  any  of  them? 

A.  I  cannot  say.  There  have  been  some  violences  charged  upon  him  here 
which  I  never  heard  of  being  committed  by  him.  I  never  heard  of  his  killing 
a  man,  or  striking  a  man  with  a  pistol,  or  kicking  a  man  to  death.  During  my 
time  in  the  stockade  I  never  heard  of  it.  I  never  heard,  either  inside  or  outside, 
during  my  stay  there,  that  he  had  taken  the  life  of  a  man  by  violence;  that  he 
had  shot  a  man  or  kicked  him  to  death. 

Q.     Or  that  he  injured  a  man  so  that  the  man  was  laid  up? 

A.     No,  sir,  I  never  heard  positively. 

Q.     If  any  such  thing  occurred  must  you  not  have  heard  of  it? 

A.     It  is  highly  probable  I  should  have  heard  of  it. 

Cross-examined  by  the  JUDGE  ADVOCATE: 

My  duties  there  were  very  onerous.  They  occupied  the  whole  of  my  time. 
My  health  was  somewhat  impaired  from  it.  I  entered  the  stockade  about  nine 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  That  was  the  time  the  prisoners  could  take  most  rest. 
I  remained  there  sometimes  till  four  and  sometimes  till  five  o'clock.  In  the  morn 
ing  before  going  in  I  would  say  my  prayers  and  read  my  "office."  After  I  came 
out  I  continued  saying  my  prayers.  I  was  occupied  with  my  own  business  and 
nobody's  else. 

Q.  How  then  could  you  see  or  know  everything  that  transpired  there  in  ref 
erence  to  Captain  Wirz? 

A.    I  did  not  say  that  I  did. 


196  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

Q.  You  have  said  that  if  he  had  committed  acts  of  violence  you  would  have 
known  it? 

A.     I  said  it  was  highly  probable  I  should  have  known  it  through  report? 

Q.     Why? 

A.  Because  if  such  an  act  of  violence  were  publicly  done  it  would  necessarily 
toe  rumored  about. 

Q.     Your  means  of  knowledge  were  only  your  association  with  the  soldiers? 

A.  I  say  it  was  highly  probable  that  if  such  a  public  act  as  murdering  a  man 
there  were  done,  I  would  have  heard  of  it. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  hear  anything  said  there  about  Captain  Wirz  being  a  cruel 
man? 

A.     I  heard  some  prisoners  saying  he  was  a  violent  man. 

Q.     What  else  did  you  hear  them  say  about  him? 

A.  Nothing  more  than  that  he  was  a  violent  man;  that  he  was  harsh  to  some 
and  cursed  them. 

Q.     How  long  were  you  there? 

A.  From  some  time  about  the  16th  of  June  till  near  the  1st  of  October,  1864. 
I  remained  there  till  the  prisoners  were  nearly  all  removed. 

Q.  Are  you  aware  that  prisoners  are  not  in  the  habit  of  complaining  of  officers 
who  have  it  in  their  power  to  punish  them? 

A.  The  office  of  keeper  of  a  prison  is  a  very  odious  one,  and  his  actions  in 
the  performance  of  his  duty  are  usually  looked  upon  as  those  of  harshness. 

Q.     Did  your  duties  require  you  to  curtail  your  religious  services  there? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  I  had  to  shorten  what  is  called  the  sacramentalia,  and  also  the 
ceremony  of  baptism,  and  also  that  of  extreme  unction.  I  had  to  give  the  sacra 
ment  without  the  prescribed  prayers. 

By  the  COURT: 

Q.  State  to  the  court  whether,  on  the  occasion  of  your  visits  there,  you  saw 
Captain  Wirz  within  the  stockade. 

A.  I  do  not  recollect  having  seen  him,  so  that  I  can  speak  positively,  within 
the  stockade,  except  on  this  memorable  occasion.  He  might  have  been  in  the 
stockade  while  I  was  in  the  hospital. 

Q.     State  whether  you  ever  saw  him  in  the  hospital  at  any  time. 

A.     No,  sir;    I  never  saw  him  in  the  hospital. 

Q.  Are  you  prepared  to  say  that  those  six  men  who  were  hanged  were  brought 
to  that  extremity  because  of  their  being  criminals,  or  because  of  their  being  so 
situated  in  that  prison?  Was  there  not  great  moral  depravity  there? 

A.  Yes;  there  was  great  moral  depravity  in  the  prison  before  the  raiders  were 
hanged.  I  heard  men  complaining  of  it.  There  must  have  been  great  moral 
depravity  in  it  when  the  prisoners  themselves  made  application  to  have  these  men 
tried.  I  cannot  say  whether  they  had  been  guilty  of  any  capital  crime. 

Q.     Do  you  know  whether  their  lives  might. not  have  been  spared? 

A.     I  cannot  answer. 

•Q.  The  record  of  the  prison  shows  that  over  900  prisoners  were  sent  away  on 
the  day  these  men  were  hanged.  Do  you  know  any  reason  why  these  men  could 
not  have  been  sent  away  instead  of  being  hanged? 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  197 

A.  I  do  not  know  that  any  such  number  of  men  were  sent  away.  That  is  a 
matter  which  I  could  not  decide  upon  because  it  remained  with  the  commandant 
there. 

.  .  .  The  food  I  received  there  was  ample  for  my  sustenance,  but  as  I  men 
tioned  in  my  examination  the  quality  was  the  same  as  that  which  the  prisoners 
and  the  guard  had.  I  have  seen  the  rations  and  food  they  got,  and  this  man 
got  our  food  where  it  was  obtained  for  the  prisoners.  He  did  not  bring  it  to  me 
cooked;  he  cooked  it  himself,  and  sometimes  he  cooked  one  day  what  would  do 
for  two  days.  I  have  heard  prisoners  complain  of  not  having  enough  to  eat ; 
they  often  complained  of  it.  I  did  not  say  the  amount  of  food  I  got  was  the 
same  as  that  issued  to  the  prisoners  as  to  quantity;  I  said  as  to  quality.  I  do 
not  know  anything  as  to  what  the  prisoners  got. 

I  never  received  any  putrid  meat.  I  do  not  know  but  that  the  prisoners 
might  have  got  some.  The  man  who  went  to  the  cook-house  brought  this  por 
tion  of  food  for  himself  and  me.  As  to  the  quantity,  we  got  enough  to  eat;  we 
were  satisfied  with  it.  It  was  not  so  much  my  stomach  I  was  looking  after  as  the 
souls  of  the  prisoners.  I  think  the  food  taken  to  that  bake-house  was  exclusively 
for  the  prisoners.  .  .  . 

Q.     Have  you  ever  heard  prisoners  complain  of  short  rations? 

A.     I  have  heard  them  complain  as  to  the  quantity  of  food. 

Q.     Did  you  ever  know  of  any  starving  to  death? 

A.  I  have  seen  persons  there  who  were  sick  and  the  quality  of  food  was  such 
that  they  could  not  use  it.  They  had  diarrhoea,  and  the  consequence  was  they 
may  have  died  of  starvation.  The  prisoners  looked,  some  of  them,  very  emaciated 
— those  who  had  scurvy. — and  diarrhcea  followed  from  it.  They  were  extremely 
emaciated,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  filth  in  the  prison.  I  cannot  tell  you 
to  how  many  dying  persons  I  have  administered  spiritual  aid.  Perhaps  it  might 
have  been  fifteen  hundred  or  two  thousand.  I  think  I  would  be  safe  in  saying 
more  than  one  thousand.  I  think  it  would  approximate  to  the  number. 

Q.  Are  you  prepared  to  say  that  out  of  that  one  thousand  none  died  from 
starvation? 

A.     I  say  that  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that. 

Q.  I  ask  the  further  question  whether  it  is  not  your  belief  that  some  of  them 
died  of  starvation? 

A.  I  have  mentioned  that  where  the  quality  of  the  food  was  such  that  it  could 
not  be  used,  and  where  sick  men  were  not  able  to  use  it,  they  must  necessarily  die 
from  starvation. 

Reverend  Father  H.  Clavereul  was  sent  to  Andersonville  by  his 
bishop  and  was  in  the  stockade  from  July  15  to  August  20,  1864, 
administering  to  the  dying  prisoners  such  spiritual  comfort  as  he 
could.  He  has  written  from  his  diary  some  experiences  and  some  facts 
which  cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest.  The  record  discloses,  I  believe, 
but  one  instance  where  a  minister  other  than  those  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  faith,  deigned  to  visit  the  prison,  and  on  a  few  occasions  to 
preach  to  the  prisoners.  These  noble  men  of  God  who  braved  disease 


198  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

and  death  in  their  holy  calling  will  never  be  forgotten.  Father  Clave- 
reul's  narrative  was  published  in  1910  by  the  Connecticut  Association 
of  ex-Prisoners  of  War.  It  will  be  accepted  as  true,  though  not  made 
under  the  sanction  of  an  oath.  Father  Clavereul's  observations  should 
be  read  in  connection  with  the  testimony  of  his  co-worker,  Father 
Whelan,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  here  given.  He  and  Father  Hamil 
ton  probably  saw  no  more  than  was  witnessed  by  Father  Whelan. 
But  the  latter,  for  reasons  of  his  own,  withheld  from  the  court  what  his 
coadjutors  felt  constrained,  in  the  interest  of  truth,  to  freely  disclose. 

FATHER  CLAVEREUL'S  DIARY. 

It  was  in  July,  1864,  that  I  left  Savannah  for  Andersonville,  being  sent  there 
to  help  the  venerable  Father  Whelan,  who  had  been  ministering  to  the  prisoners 
since  March.  Their  number  kept  increasing  owing  to  the  advance  of  the  Federals 
towards  Georgia,  being  estimated  at  the  time  at  thirty  thousand.  Father  Whelan 
was  already  an  old  man,  over  sixty  years  of  age.  He  assisted  the  prisoners  not 
only  by  his  ministrations  as  a  priest,  but  also  by  material  help,  through  his 
influence  among  the  Catholics  of  Georgia.  As  for  me,  unknown  and  without 
influence,  I  could  only  weep  over  the  miseries  I  hourly  witnessed. 

The  comforts  I  brought  them  were  the  consolations  of  religion,  and  these,  I  may 
truly  say,  I  gave  with  all  the  zeal  and  energy  God's  grace  enabled  me  to  impart. 
The  following  I  take  from  my  diary,  written  at  the  stockade  prison,  July  15th,  to 
August  20,  1864.  I  must  remark  that  some  of  my  statements  may  not  be  entirely 
correct.  I  had  during  the  thirty-six  days  I  spent  in  the  stockade,  no  information 
from  the  outside  world,  no  newspapers  to  read.  The  prisoners,  on  the  other  hand, 
who  were  my  only  associates,  were  in  the  same  predicament. 

The  diary  opens  with  the  names  of  390  prisoners  to  whom  I  administered  the 
sacraments  of  penance  and  extreme  unction. 

The  sick  were  for  a  time  lying  within  the  enclosure  of  the  stockade  in  the  open 
air.  It  was  only  later  on  that  the  worst  cases  were  taken  to  a  hospital,  where 
they  had  tents.  All  those  whom  I  administered  I  found  in  a  dying  condition  and 
have  little  doubt  that  they  died  on  the  very  spot  where  I  found  them. 

The  stockade  covered  some  twenty  acres.  It  stood  away  from  all  habitations, 
in  the  midst  of  which  must  have  been  the  piny  woods. 

All  the  trees  had  been  cut  down,  so  there  was  no  protection  left  against  the 
sun  or  rain.  A  palisade  or  fence  twelve  feet  high,  made  of  the  trunks  of  trees 
set  upright  in  the  ground,  formed  the  enclosure.  Outside  the  stockade,  eight  or 
ten  feet  above  the  ground,  was  a  platform,  where  every  hour  of  the  day  and  of  the 
night  one  could  hear  the  pacing  of  the  sentries,  and  at  each  recurring  hour  of  the 
night  the  call,  "Post  No.  1,  8  o'clock  and  all's  well,"  taken  up  by  No.  2,  and 
so  the  entire  round,  and  sometimes  the  report  of  a  musket,  telling  that  a  prisoner 
had  been  shot  within  the  "dead  line,"  which  ran  inside  the  enclosure  and  which 
the  prisoners  were  warned  not  to  pass  under  the  penalty  of  being  shot.  The 
injunction,  however,  was  not  always  heeded  and  not  infrequently  some  unfortunate 
prisoner,  whilst  attempting  to  cross  over,  either  through  recklessness  or  whilst 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  199 

demented  through  sickness  and  suffering,  was  found  lying  dead  within  the  fatal 
line.  I  shall  not  attempt  a  description  of  the  sufferings  which  we  witnessed; 
whatever  may  be  said  or  written  about  it,  will  remain  always  below  the  stern 
reality.  Spite  of  the  awful  mortality  which  for  some  weeks  reached  the  appalling 
figure  of  120  and  upwards  a  day,  the  number  of  the  prisoners  kept  increasing,  as 
most  of  the  soldiers  captured  in  the  battles  fought  in  Tennessee  or  Northern 
Georgia  at  the  time,  were  sent  to  Andersonville ;  numbers  of  them  having  been 
wounded  on  the  battlefield. 

The  food  consisted  of  unbolted  corn-meal  and  cow  peas,  with  now  and  then 
vegetables  sent  by  the  country  people  of  the  neighborhood. 

As  most  of  the  prisoners  suffered  from  the  scurvy,  sore  gums  and  loose  teeth, 
they  could  not  eat  the  coarse  food,  and  thus  numbers  of  them  died  with  their 
allowance  of  corn  bread  nearby. 

Starvation,  however,  was  not  the  only  cause  of  the  terrible  mortality  which  in 
these  eight  weeks  must  have  carried  off  some  eight  thousand  victims.  Exposure 
to  the  inclemency  of  the  weather  was  another,  the  stockade  being  entirely  bare, 
and  besides  with 'not  a  tent  under  which  to  find  shelter.  The  clothes  the  prisoners 
had  on  when  they  arrived  soon  became  mere  rags, — thousands  were  met  without 
a  shred  of  clothing,  stark  naked,  who  were  busy  burrowing  in  the  ground  to  find 
protection  against  the  rain  or  the  scorching  rays  of  a  midsummer  sun. 

To  the  scurvy  was  added  diarrhoea.  In  the  middle  of  the  stockade  between 
banks  slightly  inclining,  was  a  branch  of  running  water. 

The  ground,  trodden  by  thousands,  had  soon  become  boggy,  making  it  impossible 
for  many  among  the  sick  to  extricate  themselves  from  the  mire.  The  hospital 
had  tents  but  no  floor,  only  the  bare  ground.  There  it  was  that  most  of  the  cases 
not  utterly  hopeless  were  carried.  The  removal  took  place,  generally,  in  the  fore 
noon  after  the  morning  inspection  made  by  the  surgeons  near  the  entrance  of  the 
stockade. 

There,  for  hundreds  of  yards  back,  lay  stretched  on  the  ground  thousands  of 
sick,  brought  by  comrades;  the  greater  number,  however,  lying  still,  the  inspection 
over,  on  the  very  spot  where  they  had  been  placed  a  few  hours  before,  who,  in 
tones  of  indescribable  agony,  were  crying  for  water  to  allay  their  thirst,  intensified 
by  continued  exposure  to  a  broiling  sun.  The  unchecked  advance  of  Sherman's 
army  upon  Atlanta,  the  fear  of  a  raid  upon  the  stockade,  led  to  the  transfer  of  a 
large  part  of  the  prisoners  to  points  more  remote  from  the  seat  of  war.  The 
transfer  began  in  the  first  days  of  September,  1864,  and  before  the  end  of  the 
month  ten  thousand  prisoners  had  been  removed  from  Andersonville  to  Savannah 
and  Charlestown. 

On  the  20th  day  of  August,  that  is,  thirty-six  days  after  my  arrival  at  Ander 
sonville,  I  was  taken  sick  with  continued  vomiting. 

Father  Whelan  decided  that  I  should  leave,  and  so  I  took  the  train  to  Savannah, 
whilst  the  heroic  old  priest  retraced  his  steps  to  the  stockade.  On  the  24th  day 
of  September  I  had  sufficiently  recovered  to  be  able  to  resume,  among  the  Federal 
prisoners  in  Savannah,  the  work  I  had  begun  in  Andersonville.  .  .  . 

Referring  to  Andersonville,  I  must  mention  something  I  loathe  to  relate.  At 
the  entrance  to  the  hospital  there  stood  a  wooden  shed  50x30  feet,  called  the 


200  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONYILLE. 

"dead  house,"  where  the  bodies  of  those  who  had  died  within  the  past  twenty-four 
hours  were  laid  on  the  bare  ground. 

Often,  toward  mid-day,  on  my  way  back  to  our  shack,  (a  wooden  hut  12  x  8  feet, 
a  mile  from  the  stockade,  where  we  ate  and  slept)  to  partake  of  our  scant  dinner 
of  corn  bread,  cow  peas,  and  parched  corn  coffee,  I  walked  the  narrow  aisle  of  the 
dismal  room,  where  lay  in  four  rows,  120  corpses,  the  few  shreds  of  clothing 
found  on  them  at  the  time  they  died  thrown  over  their  emaciated  bodies.  In  front 
of  this  shed  were  the  wagons  drawn  by  four  mules  to  carry  the  dead  to  be  buried 
in  shallow  trenches,  a  mile  away.  Not  a  day  passed  that  I  did  not  meet  the 
gruesome  sight  of  these  wagons,  piled  with  bodies;  heads,  feet,  or  arms  dangling 
from  the  vehicle  transporting  them  to  their  final  rest. 

I  take  from  my  diary,  written  at  the  stockade  at  Andersonville,  the  names  of 
the  Federal  prisoners  to  whom  I  administered  the  sacraments  of  penance  and 
extreme  unction,  from  July  15  to  August  20,  1864.  [The  names  are  omitted.] 

Towards  the  end  of  July,  Bishop  Verot,  with  his  Vicar-general,  Father  Dufan, 
came  to  Andersonville.  During  their  stay  of  two  days  they  shared  with  us  in  our 
work,  attending  to  the  dying. 

In  the  "Annals  of  the  Propagation  of  the  Faith,"  there  is  an  article,  written  by 
the  Bishop  about  his  visit  to  the  Federal  prisoners,  stating  that  he  had  sent  there 
two  priests,  without,  however,  mentioning  their  names.  The  prisoners  confined  in 
the  stockade  at  Andersonville  and  those  who  were  later  sent  to  Savannah,  were  all 
enlisted  men. 

The  only  officers  I  saw  were  General  Winder,  in  command  of  the  stockade  prison, 
and  the  unfortunate  Major  Wirz.  It  was  from  the  latter  I  got  the  written  per 
mission  to  visit  daily  the  prisoners. 

Not  long  ago  a  friend  wrote  me  from  Savannah  that  Wirz's  admirers  in 
Georgia  intended  to  erect  a  monument  in  his  honor.  Now,  I  think,  that  the  poor 
man  is  no  more  worthy  of  a  monument  now  than  he  was  at  the  time  deserving  of 
being  hanged.  His  name  should  be  forgotten. 

He  was  boorish,  profane,  although  never,  to  my  knowledge,  guilty  of  the  acts 
of  violence  and  cruelty  that  were  afterward  laid  to  his  charge,  being  himself  the 
sufferer  of  conditions  he  could  in  no  way  help. 

Our  life  at  Andersonville  was  uneventful.  After  a  restless  night  spent  in  our 
hut  on  bunks,  and  a  hurried  breakfast,  5  o'clock  found  us  every  morning  at  the 
entrance  of  the  stockade,  where  we  remained  the  whole  long  day  till  sundown, 
with  one  hour  of  recess  at  mid-day.  A  stir  was  occasionally  felt,  when  for 
instance,  long  files  of  Federal  soldiers,  captured  on  the  battlefields  which  were 
then  being  fought  in  Tennessee  and  Northern'  Georgia,  were  marched  into  the 
prison. 

All  eyes  for  the  moment,  turned  in  that  direction.  Five  hundred  men,  some 
times  more,  formed  in  ranks  at  the  railroad  station  a  half  mile  from  the  stockade, 
and  from  there  were  marched  to  the  prison,  guards  with  loaded  muskets  on  both 
sides  of  the  ranks,  and,  near  the  stockade  a  battery  of  six  guns  was  stationed  on 
a  slight  eminence. 

The  military  bearing  of  the  men,  with  uniforms  still  brilliant  and  spotless,  was 
in  strong  contrast  with  the  wretchedness  of  the  place  where  they  were  soon  to  be 
confined.  A  sudden  change  was  noticeable  on  their  countenances  the  moment  they 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  201 

stepped  inside,  as  if  they  then  realized  the  horrors  of  the  situation.  They  were 
often  followed  by  hundreds  of  their  companions  more  unfortunate  still,  who, 
because  of  their  wounds,  had  to  be  carried  from  the  train,  unable  as  they  were 
to  walk  or  even  stand.  An  incident  that  might  have  proved  decisive,  with  no 
other  result,  however,  but  a  momentary  excitement,  occurred  in  the  early  part  of 
the  month  of  August.  A  thunderstorm,  accompanied  by  torrential  rain  and 
violent  wind  amounting  to  a  hurricane,  had  torn  down  a  portion  of  the  stockade 
enclosure,  leaving  a  gap  a  few  hundred  feet  wide.  I  saw  thousands  of  the  men 
pressing  on  towards  the  gap,  near  the  dead-line.  It  was  a  moment  of  awful 
suspense. 

The  guards  outside  stood  with  loaded  muskets  and  fixed  bayonets,  the  battery 
m  front  ready  to  open  at  the  command.  All  seemed  to  wait  for  somebody  to 
lead  on,  but  no  one  took  the  initiative,  and  hardly  an  hour  passed  before  the 
stockade  had  resumed  its  deathlike  appearance.  Amidst  sufferings  that  the  pen 
cannot  describe,  I  do  not  remember  having  heard  either  curses  or  imprecations 
on  the  part  of  the  prisoners.  They  seemed  to  think  themselves  the  victims  of 
circumstances  forced  on  the  authorities  at  Washington,  who,  for  fear  the  war 
might  be  prolonged,  would  not  listen  to  an  exchange,  no  less  than  the  Confederates 
themselves.  The  crowded  condition  of  the  place  in  which  they  were  confined,  the 
food  insufficient  and  loathsome,  their  clothing  in  rags,  their  exposure  to  the 
weather,  the  suffering  which  all  this  entailed,  rarely  elicited  from  them  a  word 
of  anger. 

They  seemed  to  look  upon  their  misfortunes  as  a  visitation  from  the  Almighty. 
To  this  may  be  ascribed  the  success  of  our  spiritual  ministrations,  not  only  with 
the  Catholics,  but  with  men  of  the  various  denominations,  and  those  who  professed 
none. 

They  saw,  besides,  that  the  two  priests,  ever  in  their  midst,  were  the  only 
clergymen  who  had  volunteered  to  them  their  services. 

The  religious  work  among  the  prisoners  found  expression  in  the  throngs  of 
individuals  we  met  here  and  there,  bowed  down  in  the  attitude  of  prayer  or 
listening  to  a  comrade  who  was  reading  from  the  Bible  or  addressing  to  them 
words  of  exhortation. 

Up  to  the  time  I  was  called  to  Andersonville  my  experience  with  the  army  had 
been  confined  to  the  Confederates;  first,  in  Fernandina,  Florida,  when,  early  in 
November,  1861,  two  thousand  men,  infantry  and  cavalry,  garrisoned  that  place. 
I  was  there  when  the  city  surrendered  to  the  United  States  naval  forces,  after  a 
short  and  desultory  resistance. 

A  more  pathetic  picture  cannot  well  be  conceived  than  is  here 
drawn  in  simple,  unexaggerated,  and  unimpassioned  language. 

Even  at  this  distance  of  time  one  cannot  read  this  story  of  human 
anguish  without  being  stirred  by  feelings  of  deepest  sympathy  for 
the  subjects  of  Father  Clavereul's  ministrations. 

TESTIMONY  OF  SAMUEL  HALL. 

Samuel  Hall  a  lawyer  residing  at  Macon,  testified  for  the  defense  as 
to  the  crops  in  1864,  and  stated  they  were  poor;  that  the  soil  imme- 


202  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

diately  around  Andersonville  was  poor;  it  was  a  timber  region.  He 
cited  the  Eighteenth  Georgia  Reports,  (Morgan  versus  Davis1)  to  show 
that  it  was  lawful  in  Georgia  to  track  felons  and  slaves.  He  testified, 
among  other  things,  as  follows:  "I  do  not  know  whether  sufficient 
vegetables  could  not  have  been  taken  to  Andersonville  Prison  to  have 
prevented  great  mortality  there.  I  say  this,  that  there  might  have 
been,  with  proper  exertions,  vegetables  carried  there  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  have  alleviated  some  of  the  suffering  among  the  pris 
oners."  2 

TESTIMONY  OF  NAZARETH  ALLEN. 

[Recalled  for  the  defense.]    He  testified  :3 

I  was  connected  with  the  First  Georgia  Reserves.  It  was  formed  at  Macon, 
Georgia,  in  May,  1864.  When  we  got  to  Andersonville  we  had  on  our  own 
clothing  that  we  carried  there  with  us.  We  carried  such  clothing  as  we  had — 
we  had  no  Confederate  clothing. 

Our  rations  were  corn  meal  and  bacon,  and  sometimes  beef.  The  bad  rations 
caused  sickness,  I  think — diarrhoea;  that  was  the  complaint  generally. 

I  don't  think  I  said  I  suffered  for  want  of  rations  while  out  on  duty;  we 
suffered  from  the  rain  a  good  deal.  I  never  suffered  because  I  had  not  sufficient 
to  eat;  I  got  a  good  deal  of  my  provisions  from  home.  Sometimes  I  had  to 
live  upon  the  rebel  rations.  There  was  a  railroad  all  the  way  from  where  I 
lived  to  Andersonville,  and  1  got  boxes  of  provisions  from  home  all  the  while  I 
stayed  there,  pretty  much.  When  on  picket,  I  lived  a  good  deal  off  the  citizens. 
I  fared  very  well  while  I  was  on  picket.  I  never  had  any  difficulty  in  getting 
what  I  wanted  to  eat.  I  do  not  think  any  of  our  soldiers  ever  died  from  starva 
tion.  I  never  saw  any  cases  of  wasting  away  from  lack  of  sufficient  to  eat.  It  was 
our  impression  that  some  of  our  men  died  because  they  had  bad  food.  I  am  not  a 
physician,  but  our  impression  was  that  the  diet  would  create  diarrhoea;  that  was 
my  impression.  We  never  had  any  scurvy  among  our  men. 

I  have  seen  our  soldiers  wearing  the  Federal  uniform.  I  have  seen  them  with 
overcoats  and  boots  and  pants.  I  believe  these  articles  of  clothing  came  from  the 
bodies  of  the  dying  and  the  dead.  .  .  . 

TESTIMONY  OP  CAPTAIN  JAS.  W.  ARMSTRONG,  C.  S.  A.4 

I  reside  in  Macon,  Georgia.  The  two  last  years  I  have  been  a  commissary 
officer  in  the  service  of  the  Confederate  government  with  the  rank  of  captain;  I 
was  at  Andersonville.  My  duties  there  were  to  receive  stores  and  issue  them 
to  prisoners  and  troops,  and  to  do  anything  else  that  came  into  my  department. 
I  went  there  on  the  31st  of  March,  1864,  and  remained  there  until  the  first  day 


1  Record,  p.  494. 

2  This  case  will  form  the  subject  of  some  remarks  in  a  subsequent  chapter. 
8  Record,  p.  466  et  seq. 

4  Record,  p.  659  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE. 


203 


of  August,  when  I  left,  although  I  was  responsible,  I  suppose,  until  the  21st  of 
August.  I  was  there  again  from  the  10th  of  December  until  the  collapse  of  the 
Confederacy.  When  I  first  went  there  until  August  1st,  the  issue  of  rations  to 
the  prisoners,  generally  speaking,  was  bacon,  corn-meal,  peas,  salt.  The  ration 
of  bacon  was  one-third  of  a  pound;  of  beef,  one  pound;  of  syrup,  six  gallons  to 
the  100  rations;  of  meal,  one  and  one-fourth  pound  to  the  ration;  of  vinegar, 
when  issued,  one  gallon  to  100  rations;  salt,  three  pounds  to  100  rations;  soap, 
two  pounds  to  100  rations.  The  ration  of  the  Confederate  soldier  was  the  same. 
The  ration  was  altered,  I  think,  on  the  9th  of  August.  The  order  was  made  then 
to  issue  of  beef  one-half  pound,  of  peas  one-half  pound,  of  meal  one-half  pound, 
or  rice  in  lieu  of  peas,  salt,  soap  and  other  things.  Generally,  while  I  was  there, 

there   was   not   any   difference —  

not  at  first. 

I  can  recollect  several  boards 
of  survey.  They  always  con 
demned  rations  there.  Captain 
Wirz  had  nothing  to  do  with  com 
missary  supplies  there  at  all.  He 
had  to  receive  them  after  the 
14th  of  July,  I  think.  Once  he 
made  a  remonstrance  in  relation 
to  them  that  I  remember.  I  re 
ceived  all  my  orders  from  my 
superior  officer  in  the  commissary 
department.  I  issued  those 
rations  until  July  14th  to  Captain 
R.  B.  Winder,  quartermaster; 
after  that  time  to  Captain  Wirz. 
The  requisition  from  Captain 
Wirz  to  me  was  the  ordinary 
provision  return,  known  as  Form 
13.  Captain  Wirz  would  gener 
ally  furnish  me  with  the  number 


of  men  only.  Drawing  every  day,  SOME  RELICS  GATHERED  BY  Miss  CLARA  BARTON  AT  THE 
of  course,  there  would  be  that  PRISON  GROUNDS- 

number  of  rations;  and  the  requisition  was  filled  out  by  myself  or  clerks.  I  would 
fill  it  out  by  my  orders,  and  by  knowing  what  I  had  on  hand  to  issue.  There 
was  a  government  regulation  to  fill  out  the  quantity  as  I  had  it.  I  was  very 
much  troubled  with  reference  to  transportation  and  getting  the  ration  out;  at 
first  to  a  great  extent.  In  fact  it  took  nearly  all  day,  and  very  often  quite  all 
day,  to  get  it  out— I  mean  to  haul  it  away  from  the  commissary  building.  The 
requisitions  were  generally  made  by  Captain  Wirz  between  11  and  12  o'clock 
m  the  morning.  There  was  not  a  great  deal  of  difficulty  in  regard  to  getting 
the  supplies  from  the  sources  from  which  I  drew  them.  I  was  troubled  very 
much  for  storage  room,  and  could  not  accumulate  a  stock  on  hand.  At  first  I 
occupied  a  room  some  70  feet  by  30,  until  some  time  in  July;  after  that  I 


204  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

occupied  a  house,  I  suppose  130  feet  by  30.  We  would  generally  have  on  hand  no 
more  supplies  than  two  or  three  days'  rations;  we  were  issuing  to  about  36,000 
or  37,000  men.  It  was  my  endeavor  to  always  have  rations  on  hand  for  that 
number;  I  generally  succeeded.  The  meat  was  generally  very  good  when  I 
received  it.  I  never  had  any  trouble  on  the  subject  of  obtaining  it;  if  I  could  not 
obtain  meat  I  could  obtain  syrup  in  lieu  of  it;  I  could  not  always  obtain  fresh 
meat  when  I  wanted  it.  There  was  not  any  corral  there  containing  a  large  number 
of  horses  and  mules  connected  with  the  department,  and  I  do  not  know  what 
horses  and  mules  the  quartermaster  had;  if  any  corral  had  been  there  I  think  I 
would  have  known  it. 

...  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  delivery  of  rations  to  the  prisoners.  Up  to 
the  14th  of  July  all  the  rations  issued  were  delivered  to  K.  B.  Winder,  or  to  his 
sergeants  for  him,  and  they  were  left  subject  to  his  control;  after  that  time  I 
issued  them  to  Captain  Wirz's  sergeant,  under  his  direction,  of  course ;  the  sergeant 
was  appointed  by  him.  Captain  Wirz  had  charge  of  the  rations  from  that  time, 
and  beyond  that  I  had  no  responsibility  whatever.  I  do  not  pretend  to  know 
whether  the  rations  issued  by  me  were  actually  delivered  to  the  prisoners.  I  was 
not  troubled  so  much  about  procuring  rations  as  I  was  from  obtaining  transporta 
tion  and  wanting  storage  room.  I  never  was  at  any  time  so  short  that  I  could  not 
issue  to  the  prisoners.  In  three  or  four  instances  I  issued  rice  instead  of  corn  meal; 
but  I  always  made  up  the  rations.  I  never  found  it  necessary  to  diminish  the 
rations,  except  by  substituting  one  thing  for  another.  I  always  had  a  plenty  to 
issue,  and  the  only  difficulty  I  had  was  in  respect  to  storage  and  transportation. 
It  was  a  general  complaint,  the  transportation  being  short,  but  even  then  I  was 
not  obliged  to  withhold  the  rations  from  the  prisoners;  I  could  always  substitute 
something  in  lieu  of  it.  ... 

I  issued  rations  to  the  prisoners  day  by  day  until  March,  1865;  they  were 
issued  in  the  morning  for  that  day.  It  was  not  in  the  same  way  I  issued  rations 
to  the  troops;  they  were  issued  for  from  one  to  seven  days.  I  did  not  issue  to 
prisoners  in  the  same  way  because  we  had  not  rations  enough  to  issue  such  a 
quantity  at  the  time,  nor  had  we  a  place  to  store  them;  I  do  not  think  I  could 
have  issued  two  days'  rations.  I  generally  got  the  requisition  between  11  and  12 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  It  very  often  took  them  until  sundown  to  get  all  the 
rations  out;  some  of  the  rations  might  run  into  the  next  day.  That  was  changed 
after  a  while,  and  we  issued  one  day  for  the  next  day;  but  at  first  they  drew 
day  by  day. 

Q.  I  want  to  know  if  it  would  not  have  been  more  humane  to  issue  rations  a 
day  in  advance. 

A.  During  the  latter  portion  of  the  time  they  were  issued  one  day  for  the 
next.  I  cannot  say  how  long  before  the  system  was  changed — probably  a  month 
or  more.1 

TESTIMONY  OF  JOHN  F.  HEATH. 

[Eecalled  for  the  defense.2] 

I  was  at  Andersonville,  May,  1864,  as  first  lieutenant  company  E,  Third  Eegi- 
ment  Georgia  Eeserves.  Wagons  and  horses  were  very  scarce  at  Andersonville. 

1  It  is  impossible  to  reconcile  this  testimony  with  the  overwhelming  proofs  that  no  such 
rations  as  the  witness  describes  reached  the  prisoners. 

3  Record,  p.  448. 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  205 

There  were  four  regiments  there,  I  think,  when  we  got  there,  and  they  had  either 
four  or  five  wagons  for  the  use  of  those  four  regiments.  I  saw  no  corral  there, 
except  a  small  horse  lot.  A  few  mules  and  horses  were  in  this  horse  lot.  All  the 
horses  that  I  ever  saw  were  used  daily;  there  might  have  been  some  officers* 
horses  in  the  lot. 

We  received  in  my  regiment  a  pound  and  a  quarter  of  meal,  very  coarse  at 
that  generally.  Once  in  a  while  a  third  of  a  pound  of  bacon.  At  other  times 
a  pound  of  beef,  and  that  very  poor,  and  when  we  did  not  get  bacon  or  beef,  we 
got  a  little  sorghum,  a  kind  of  molasses  made  out  of  Chinese  cane.  I  have  been  at 
the  commissary  often  on  drawing  days,  and  have  seen  them  drawing  rations  for 
the  stockade  out  of  the  same  lot  that  I  drew  from  for  my  regiment,  but  to  the 
quantity  I  could  not  say.  I  had  to  send  home  for  provisions  to  live  on  and  to  buy 
what  I  could  through  the  country. 

I  suppose  there  were  some  of  my  comrades  who  did  not  send  home  for  pro 
visions — who  lived  on  the  rations  they  got,  though,  in  fact,  most  of  them  got 
provisions  from  home,  sent  to  them  from  time  to  time.  I  could  not  tell  how  long 
I  could  have  lived  on  the  rations  without  having  other  provisions;  I  generally  got 
what  I  could.  I  did  not  feel  disposed  to  live  on  the  rations.  I  do  not  pretend  to 
say  that  I  would  have  starved  to  death  on  them,  but  it  was  a  very  small  ration. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  BATES. 

[Recalled  for  the  defense.i] 

...  I  may  say  that  we  had  no  medicines.  We  were  not  permitted  to  prescribe 
regularly,  only  by  numbers,  and  they  were  decoctions  of  indigenous  herbs  and 
bark.  They  were  numbered.  For  a  scorbuta  case  we  would  order  Specific  No. 
14  or  24,  as  the  case  might  be.  I  do  not  know  of  sick  or  wounded  prisoners  being 
brought  to  the  hospital  from  other  places  than  the  stockade.  I  have  seen  some 
few  prisoners  arrive  at  Andersonville  who  were  sick  or  wounded.  Some  of  the 
men  had  been  reduced,  some  ragged,  some  sick,  and  in  fact  some  dead  or  dying, 
when  they  came  there.  I  did  not  see  many,  however,  in  that  condition,  as  I  was. 
not  much  about  the  depot  or  headquarters. 

I  saw  some  few  instances  of  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  nurses.  I  stated  before,, 
when  I  was  on  the  stand,  that  in  making  out  my  morning  reports  I  would  make- 
my  calculation  for  the  amount  of  commissary  supplies;  that  there  was  a  suffi 
ciency.  Nevertheless,  I  negatived  that  by  saying  that  I  was  not  sure  they  got  it. 
On  one  occasion  I  detected  fourteen  loaves  of  bread  that  were  being  kept  from  the 
prisoners.  It  was  what  was  known  as  Father  Whelan's  bread,  which  he  had  placed 
under  my  direction.  .  .  . 

Q.  You  speak  of  the  country  from  Andersonville  to  Macon  as  being  poor;  do 
you  mean  the  whole  of  that  route? 

A.     I  speak  directly  of  the  poverty-stricken  locality  of  Andersonville. 

Q.     Did  you  not  speak  of  the  whole  route  as  far  as  Mfleon? 

A.     If  I  was  so  understood  I  did  not  mean  it. 

Q.     Would  not  that  be  considered  a  very  rich  country? 

A.  I  do  not  know  very  much  about  that;  I  never  took  any  particular  notice. 
I  have  understood  that  southwestern  Georgia  was  considered  the  garden-spot  of 

1  Record,  p.  662  et  seq. 


206  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

the  South,  but  I  am  not  well  acquainted  with  it  except  by  stage  and  railroad 
travel,  to  a  limited  extent.    I  cannot  give  an  intelligent  opinion  on  that  point. 

The  prime  cause  of  the  poisonous  atmosphere  in  the  hospital  was  the  crowded 
condition  of  the  patients,  and  their  filthy  condition  in  consequence,  and  the  vermin, 
offal  and  filthiness  generally  which  would  accumulate  where  men  are  confined,  not 
able  to  help  or  do  for  themselves,  without  the  means  at  hand  for  cleanliness.  The 
boxes  used  by  the  men  all  through  the  hospital  were  not  very  well  attended  to 
unless  there  was  an  officer  of  the  day  there  to  see  to  it.  Everything  was  calculated 
to  produce  a  disease-creating  agency.  I  mean  to  say  that  this  poisonous  atmos 
phere  was  produced  by  the  condition  of  the  prison  and  the  hospital,  in  regard  to 
the  numbers  and  the  treatment  which  the  prisoners  received  there;  I  think  also  the 
deficiency  of  medicines — they  had  no  medicines.  .  .  . 

TESTIMONY  OP  DE.  P.  G.  CASTLEN. 
[Recalled  for  the  defense:*] 

I  was  in  1864  surgeon  of  the  3d  Georgia  Reserves,  and  was  at  Andersonville 
from  May  till  the  last  of  September. 

The  rations  which  we  had  for  our  own  men  were  inferior,  very  inferior.  Some 
times  we  got  bacon,  then  again  a  coarse  kind  of  beef,  but  in  small  quantities. 
The  sick  sent  home  for  rations;  they  sometimes  would  write  to  their  friends. 
In  regard  to  the  regular  rations  there  was  a  good  deal  of  complaint  in  the  reg 
iment.  I  heard  a  good  deal  of  complaint  that  the  rations  were  not  sufficient. 
The  men  of  my  regiment,  and  particularly  the  sick,  suffered  a  great  deal  from 
want  of  rations,  and  the  poor  quality  of  the  rations.  I  could  get  no  diet  there 
suitable  for  a  sick  person.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  sickness  during  the  month 
of  June  in  my  regiment.  I  speak  for  my  own  regiment  alone.  The  meat  was 
of  that  inferior  quality  that  it  was  an  unhealthy  diet  the  way  they  had  to  cook 
it.  They  had  no  means  of  cooking  it  except  by  boiling  it.  The  meat  would 
produce  diarrho3a.  I  had  a  great  deal  of  diarrhoea  in  my  regiment.  Diarrhea 
was  one  of  the  principal  diseases  with  which  the  men  of  my  regiment  suffered. 
I  had  no  scurvy  in  my  regiment. 

The  land  about  Andersonville  is  of  a  very  inferior  quality— a  pine  country- 
sandy.  I  would  not  think  it  suitable  land  for  cotton.  It  would  take  five  or 
six  acres  to  raise  a  bale  of  cotton.  I  would  hardly  cultivate  the  land  for  that 
crop.  My  regiment  never  did,  to  my  knowledge,  corrupt  the  stream  above  the 
stockade — the  stream  running  into  the  stockade;  I  never  heard  of  their  doing  it. 

We  were  not  very  much  crowded  in  our  regiment,  not  crowded  enough  to 
produce  scurvy.  The  men  had  an  opportunity  of  getting  things  from  home  to 
prevent  it.  There  was  no  difficulty  in  that  respect  at  all,  and  they  got  things 
from  home.  In  speaking  of  the  deficiency  of  food,  I  was  speaking  of  the  rations 
issued  by  the  governmAt.  In  my  answer  with  regard  to  men  sending  home  for 
things,  I  did  not  mean  to  confine  it  to  the  sick;  any  man  in  the  regiment  could 
send  home  and  get  things.  It  was  a  common  thing  for  them  to  receive  boxes. 

Q.     Were  there  any  men  in  your  regiment  who  subsisted  upon  the  Confederate 

rations  there? 

i 

1  Record,  p.  451. 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  207 

A.  I  don't  know  whether  they  received  them  wholly  or  not  from  the  com 
missary  department.  It  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  find  out  that,  unless  I 
went  through  the  regiment  inquiring.  I  know  of  no  cases  of  starvation  among 
the  Confederate  soldiers,  nor  any  cases  of  emaciation  or  wasting  away.  .  .  . 

I  never  heard  of  any  of  our  soldiers  freezing  to  death.  None  of  them  went 
hungry  for  want  of  fuel  to  cook  their  rations.  We  could  get  plenty  of  fuel  from 
the  woods  near  by — as  much  as  we  wanted.  1 

When  I  spoke  about  the  quality  of  the  land  at  Andersonville,  I  meant  the 
land  immediately  around  that  place.  I  never  was  anywhere  in  that  country 
but  around  there.  I  do  not  speak  of  any  other  place  than  just  around  Anderson 
ville.  .  .  . 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.   E.   A.   FLEWELLEN. 

[Eecalled  for  the  defense^] 

I  can  arrive  at  the  time  during  the  summer  of  1864  I  was  first  at  Anderson 
ville  more  definitely  by  stating  that  I  was  there  a  few  days  before  General 
Hood  was  assigned  to  duty  in  place  of  General  Johnston — in  the  month  of  July 
or  August — one  of  those  two  months  I  am  confident.  I  am  not  distinct  in  my 
recollection  about  the  number  of  men  I  found  there  as  Federal  prisoners,  but 
there  were  over  thirty  thousand,  I  believe. 

On  my  first  visit  I  went  there  under  a  special  order  of  the  medical  director  of 
hospitals,  for  the  purpose  of  inspecting  the  hospitals.  I  called  Surgeon  White's 
attention  to  the  hospital  accommodations,  and  the  reply  was  that  he  was  making 
efforts  to  fit  them  up — that  he  had  not  been  able  to  get  sufficient  tools.  I  asked 
him  if  he  had  made  efforts.  He  said  that  he  had  made  timely,  and  I  think  he 
said  frequent,  requisitions  on  the  quartermasters'  department  for  tools,  but  that 
he  could  not  get  them,  and  he  remarked  further  that  there  were  at  least  twenty- 
five  hundred  mechanics  in  the  stockade,  who  would  be  glad  to  take  a  parole  for 
the  purpose  of  working  on  the  hospital,  but  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  get  tools. 
He  went  so  far  as  to  state  that  he  had  lumber  there  sufficient  to  put  up  one  or 
two  hospitals,  (similar  to  the  one  that  had  just  been  roughly  thrown  up  for  the 
troops  on  duty,)  but  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  get  the  tools  to  put  them  up 
with.  The  Federal  hospital  was  a  rough  enclosure  of  plank  fences;  it  was  made 
up  of  a  heterogeneous  variety  of  tents,  some  comparatively  new,  and  some  almost 
totally  worn  out;  I  think  I  may  safely  say  that  I  saw  every  style  of  tent  in 
there  that  I  have  ever  seen  anywhere.  There  was  little  or  no  bedding.  The 
bunks,  if  they  could  be  called  by  that  name,  were  improvised  by  driving  forked 
stakes  in  the  ground  and  putting  railings  across.  I  am  now  speaking  of  the 
Federal  hospital.  I  saw  little  or  no  bedding — occasionally  a  bed-sack,  very 
dirty.  ... 

There  was  a  good  deal  of  difference,  I  think,  between  Confederate  hospitals 
and  hospitals  for  Union  prisoners.  I  never  visited  them  officially  except  at 
Andersonville,  and  I  did  not  consider  that  a  hospital  at  all  in  comparison  with 
what  a  hospital  should  be.  I  found  on  looking  over  the  hospital  stores  that  had 
been  issued  and  that  had  accumulated  in  the  office  of  the  surgeon-in-chief,  a  large 


iWill  the  defenders  of  Wirz  explain  why  the  prisoners  were  deprived  of  fuel? 
2  Record,  p.  471. 


208  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  A1STDEESONVILLE. 

lot  of  bed-sacks,  sheets  and  other  things  necessary  for  the  hospital.  I  thought 
it  very  remarkable  that  they  were  not  furnished,  and,  of  course,  I  called  on 
Dr.  White  for  an  explanation.  His  reply  was  that  in  the  first  place  he  had 
not  been  able  to  get  the  straw  to  fill  the  sacks;  that  in  the  second  place  he  had 
not  been  able  to  get  bunks  to  put  them  in;  and,  as  an  additional  reason,  that  he 
did  not  want  to  put  them  into  those  nasty  tents  and  on  the  filthy  ground — the 
hospital  being  incomplete,  the  bunks  being  fixed  up  with  sticks,  and  some  with 
out  sticks.  He  said  that  the  sacks  would  soon  be  ruined;  that  they  would  be 
so  filthy  that  they  would  never  be  fit  to  use  when  he  should  have  succeeded  in 
completing  the  hospital.  I  testified  in  my  examination-in-chief  as  to  the  char 
acter  of  the  ground;  it  is  pine  soil,  black.  There  were  no  floors  to  the  tents, 
simply  earth  floors,  and  if  bed-sacks  were  placed  on  the  ground  anybody  could 
see  how  quickly  they  would  be  soiled.  If  they  were  put  on  the  bunks  I  have 
spoken  of,  the  men  climbing  up  and  down  would  soil  them  very  badly.  I  have 
no  knowledge  as  to  the  chance  of  getting  straw  to  fill  them  with,  except  what 
Dr.  White  stated.  My  recollection  is  not  distinct  as  to  whether  I  discovered  any 
of  them  filled  with  pine  straw.  The  Confederate  hospitals  were  pretty  short  in 
regard  to  hospital  clothing  and  necessaries  of  every  kind;  they  hardly  ever  got 
what  they  desired.  I  may  say  there  was  very  great  suffering  in  consequence  of 
that  deficiency  in  the  hospital  department  generally. 

I  called  Dr.  White's  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  corn  meal  out  of  which  I 
saw  bread  baked  was  not  sifted;  his  reply  was  that  he  had  made  requisition  but 
the  sifters  could  not  be  had.  When  the  army  was  at  Tullahoma  diarrhoea  pre 
vailed  there  to  a  very  large  extent;  I  reported  the  fact  to  General  Bragg,  and  I 
attributed  it  very  largely  to  the  fact  of  the  meal  being  used  unsifted;  I  arrived 
at  that  conclusion  from  the  evidences  I  saw  of  the  matter  passing  through  with 
out  digestion;  I  know  there  was  great  complaint  about  the  difficulty  of  getting 
sifters  in  hospitals  and  in  the  army  too. 

Dr.  Roy  was  recalled  more  particularly  to  testify  as  to  matters 
pertaining  to  charge  2.  His  testimony  will  be  noticed  in  that  con 
nection. 

TESTIMONY  OF  REV.  E.  B.  DUNCAN. 

Kev.  E.  B.  Duncan,  a  Methodist  minister,  visited  Andersonville 
and  ministered  to  the  prisoners  in  the  stockade.  His  testimony  re 
lated  to  the  personal  conduct  of  Captain  "Wirz  as  bearing  on  charge  2. 
He  testified  in  relation  to  the  quality  of  the  water : 

I  got  water  in  the  stockade.  I  drank  some  good  water  there;  as  good  as  I 
found  in  upper  Georgia.  I  was  very  thirsty  after  preaching,  and  I  mentioned 
that  I  would  like  to  get  some  water;  but  calling  to  mind  that  the  water  might 
not  be  good,  I  thought  I  would  not  drink  until  I  got  out.  Some  of  the  men 
said  they  would  get  me  some  water,  and  they  went  out  and  got  a  bucket  full  of 
very  good  water,  at  which  I  was  very  much  astonished.  It  was  an  exceedingly 
hot  day,  and  I  was  very  thirsty,  and  I  thought  it  was  the  best  water  I  had  met; 
so  much  better  than  I  might  have  expected.* 

1  Record,  p.   610. 


TESTIMONY  FOB  DEFENSE.  209 

TESTIMONY  OF  COLONEL  FANNIN. 

Colonel  James  H.  Fannin  was  recalled  for  the  defense.  He  testified 
to  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  tools,  axes,  etc.;  also  as  to  the  condition 
of  the  water  and  the  condition  of  the  prisoners  in  the  stockade.  He 
testified : 

I  know  the  prison  was  very  much  crowded.  It  was  very  difficult  sometimes 
for  prisoners  in  large  lots  to  march  in.  They  would  congregate  around  the  gate. 
I  was  there  one  day  when  about  twelve  hundred  arrived.  Captain  Wirz  remarked 
that  he  was  very  sorry  they  sent  so  many  men  there,  as  they  were  crowding  the 
prison  so  much.  That  was  before  the  enlargement  of  the  prison  was  completed. 
They  were  making  arrangements  then  to  enlarge  it.  I  should  think  he  was  fre 
quently  annoyed  and  troubled  in  that  way,  because  the  prison  was  very  much 
crowded — very  much  indeed.  Large  lots  of  prisoners  came  in  day  after  day. 
I  should  think  they  could  not  be  very  well  cared  for,  there  were  so  many  of 
them  together  on  that  small  piece  of  ground.  .  .  . 

One  of  the  reasons  why  my  regiment  was  removed  from  its  first  encampment 
was  because  of  the  offensive  stench  arising  from  the  prison.  At  that  time  my 
camp  was  located  west  of  the  south  gate  of  the  stockade,  the  one  nearest  Captain 
Wirz's  headquarters.  The  drainage  of  the  camp  passed  into  the  stream  that  led 
into  the  stockade.  When  we  were  located  there  the  water  flowing  on  that  side  of 
the  hill  would  run  down  towards  the  branch. 

TESTIMONY  OF  MAJOR  FRENCH. 

Major  S.  B.  French  was  called  for  the  defense ;  he  was  on  duty  in 
the  commissary  department  at  Richmond.  He  testified  more  par 
ticularly  to  the  difficulty  his  department  had  in  the  winters  of  1863-4 
in  supplying  General  Lee's  army,  which  made  it  necessary  to  reduce 
the  army  ration  somewhat.  The  situation  led  to  the  removal  of  the 
prisoners  then  at  Richmond;  and,  in  reply  to  a  question  whether  a 
discussion  did  not  arise  as  to  the  matter,  he  testified  i1 

Q.  You  say  that  the  railroads  were  in  such  a  condition  as  to  prevent  supplies 
of  flour  and  other  articles  from  being  sent  to  Eichmond? 

A.  Supplies  of  corn  I  should  say ;  we  did  not  draw  flour  from  any  southern 
state,  except  in  very  small  quantities,  because  it  was  not  raised  there  as  a  general 
thing.  The  want  of  facilities  to  transport  corn  was  what  made  the  corn  scarce;  I 
think  entirely  so.  It  was  in  the  winter  of  1863-64  that  the  commissary  general 
thought  that  the  prisoners  had  better  be  sent  south.  I  think  there  was  a  very 
large  number  of  prisoners  in  Eichmond  at  that  time;  I  think  all  of  them,  or  very 
nearly  all,  were  sent  away;  I  do  not  know  how  many  were  sent  away;  I  know 
that  some  were  sent  away  merely  by  the  general  statement;  I  never  saw  any 
of  them  in  iransitu.  I  do  not  know  whether  the  prisons  at  Eichmond  were 
emptied  at  any  one  time;  I  do  not  know  that  they  were  not;  my  impression  is 
that  very  nearly  all  of  the  prisoners  were  sent  away  some  time  during  the  spring 


1  Record,  p.  654. 


210  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

of  1864;  I  am  not  positive  about  the  time,  I  think  it  was  during  a  portion  of 
the  time  Grant's  army  was  in  front  of  Eichmond.  I  never  in  the  line  of  duty 
visited  the  southern  states.  I  do  not  of  my  own  personal  knowledge  know 
anything  in  regard  to  the  supply  of  vegetables  in  the  southern  states,  the  growth 
of  vegetables  in  the  country  surrounding  Andersonville,  or  the  growth  of  any 
particular  articles  of  food  or  subsistence.  The  scarcity  of  supplies  was  consid 
ered  general  with  us.  ... 

If  there  was  any  reduction  in  quality  or  quantity  of  the  rations  issued  to  the 
prisoners  at  Andersonville,  it  would,  as  I  understood,  have  been  in  violation  of 
existing  order.  If  so,  I  should  think  the  officer  in  charge. of  the  prison  would 
be  responsible  if  he  knew  the  facts.  .  .  . 

TESTIMONY  OF  W.  D.  HAMMACK. 

W.  D.  Hammack  was  a  private  in  the  55th  Georgia.  He  went  to 
Andersonville,  as  he  testified,  February  14th  and  left  on  April  7th, 
1865;  he  was  there  over  a  year  and  was  detailed  on  July  9,  1864,  and 
reported  to  Captain  Wirz.  He  testified  r1 

I  received  orders  to  report  to  Captain  Wirz  for  duty  on  the  evening  of  the 
9th  of  July.  He  assigned  me  to  call  the  roll  inside  the  stockade.  I  continued 
on  that  duty  until  the  prisoners  left  to  go  to  Millen.  My  instructions  were  to 
call  the  roll  and  have  every  man  present  at  the  roll-call.  This  was  in  the  first 
organization  of  the  camp.  There  were  ninety  men  in  a  mess,  and  three  nineties 
constituted  a  division.  Each  ninety  had  a  sergeant,  a  Union  soldier.  It  was 
his  duty  to  have  all  his  men  at  roll-call  by  the  time  that  I  got  in  to  attend  to 
the  roll-call.  .  .  .  They  reorganized  the  camp  twice,  I  think,  before  they 
moved  the  prisoners  to  Millen,  and  then  the  order  was  for  the  men  to  stand  in 
the  ranks  at  the  place  where  they  answered  the  roll-call  until  the  whole  stockade 
was  called  over.  That  was  reorganizing.  That  occurred  twice,  I  think,  from  the 
time  I  went  there  until  they  were  sent  to  Millen.  I  think  no  more.  Our  orders 
were  that  if  their  number  was  not  correct,  and  the  sergeant  could  not  account 
for  them,  we  were  to  just  go  along  and  leave  them  standing  there  until  they  got 
correct.  I  did  not  keep  them  standing  ever  after  they  were  reported  correct  by 
their  sergeant.  I  don't  know  what  other  sergeants  did.  I  know  I  did  not.  I 
called  the  rolls  of  six  divisions,  and  there  were  three  nineties  in  each  division — 
eighteen  nineties  altogether. 

Q.  Did  you  ever,  of  your  own  knowledge,  know  squads  to  be  deprived  of 
their  rations  when  they  reported  their  number  as  not  correct? 

A.  Well,  that  was  the  order.  I  don't  know  that  I  ever  knew  of  any  squad 
that  lost  any  rations  on  account  of  any  men  that  were  not  present.  The  order 
was  that  if  they  could  not  account  for  the  men  they  would  lose  their  rations.  .  .  . 

I  always  supposed  that  the  sergeants  inside  the  stockade  attended  to  finding 
the  sick  and  the  dead,  and  took  them  out  if  they  were  not  able  to  go  themselves 
to  sick-call,  though  I  have  seen  sergeants  that  would  not  take  their  sick  to  sick- 
call. 

1  Record,  p.  498  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  211 

Q.  When  they  carried  their  sick  down  what  was  the  rule  or  practice  in  regard 
to  those  who  were  most  dangerously  sick? 

A.  There  was  no  rule  about  it;  they  all  went  together;  those  that  were 
sickest  went  along  like  the  balance.  It  was  the  duty  of  the  sergeants  of  the 
nineties  to  take  those  who  were  not  accepted  by  the  doctor  back  into  the  stockade. 
They  did  get  medicine  for  a  while;  they  would  be  prescribed  for;  they  would 
be  taken  to  sick-call  in  the  morning  and  they  would  get  medicines  in  the  even 
ing.  .  .  . 

Some  clothes  came  there  by  the  sanitary  commisison,  marked  as  such,  but  I 
do  not  recollect  what  time  they  came.  I  did  not  wear  any  of  them;  Captain 
Wirz  never  gave  me  anything  in  his  life,  except  it  might  be  a  pass.  I  never 
obtained  any  clothing  in  that  way;  I  don't  know  any  of  the  Confederate  soldiers 
that  did.  I  have  seen  Confederate  soldiers  wear  them,  but  they  never  procured 
them  from  Captain  Wirz;  I  think  all  the  paroled  prisoners  drew  them.  I  was 
there  when  they  went  in  to  get  their  suits  of  clothes.  I  saw  all  of  Duncan's 
squad  go  in  for  that  purpose.  I  cannot  swear  that  they  all  got  them,  but  I 
know  they  were  sent  there  for  that  purpose.  I  have  seen  men  with  them  on; 
and  .1  know  that  they  sold  them.  There  was  a  Confederate  soldier  named  Nolan 
who  bought  a  pair  of  those  pants. 

Q.  Do  you  know  in  what  condition  the  clothing  of  those  paroled  men  who 
received  the  sanitary  goods  was?  Were  they  destitute  at  the  time? 

A.  They  were  not;  there  were  men  inside  the  stockade  who  needed  them 
more  than  the  paroled  men. 

TESTIMONY  OF  COLONEL  A.  W.  PERSONS. 

Col.  Persons  was  recalled.  He  went  to  Andersonville  in  February 
and  left  in  June.1 

I  think  Captain  Wirz  reached  Andersonville  some  time  in  the  latter  part  of 
February,  or  in  March.  I  think  he  took  command  immediately.  He  was  inter 
rupted,  however,  by  the  arrival  of  Major  Griswold,  who  had  an  order  to  take 
command  of  the  prison.  That  order  collided  with  the  one  that  Wirz  had.  The 
matter  was  put  in  abeyance.  I  think  Captain  Wirz  retired  for  some  ten  or  fifteen 
days  till  the  difficulty  was  cleared  up.  Subsequently,  Major  Griswold  was  ordered 
away  and  Captain  Wirz  took  command  of  the  prison.  Captain  Wirz  framed  his 
local  orders  himself.  All  the  general  orders  affecting  the  prison  came  from  Rich 
mond,  from  General  Winder,  through  me. 

Q.  Do  you  know  to  whom  his  official  communications  were  addressed  and 
where  they  went? 

A.  That  depended  entirely  upon  the  character  of  the  communications.  Some 
were  sent  to  Richmond  directly  through  the  regular  channel.  I  had  an  inter 
mediate  position  and  they  went  through  me  to  Richmond  to  General  Winder. 

The  reason  for  removing  the  hospital  outside  was  that  the  stockade  was  pretty 
densely  crowded,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  sickness  in  it.  The  hospital  neces 
sarily  occupied  a  good  deal  of  room ;  they  had  tents  and  flies.  Captain  Wirz 
came  to  me  and  urged  me  to  take  the  hospital  out.  I  told  him  I  had  no  authority 

1  Record,  p.  455  et  seq. 


212  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

to  do  anything  of  that  sort.  I  addressed  a  communication,  however,  to  General 
Winder,  asking  for  permission  to  remove  the  hospital  outside.  My  impression 
is,  though  I  will  not  state  positively,  that  it  was  declined  by  General  Winder. 
Captain  Wirz  remonstrated,  and  I  told  him  to  remove  the  hospital— that  I  would 
take  the  responsibility. 

I  know  that  Captain  Wirz  objected  to  the  prison  being  overcrowded  as  it  was. 
We  sent  an  objection  to  the  authorities  at  Eichmond,  to  General  Winder,  and 
urged  him  to  hold  up  and  not  to  ship  any  more  there;  but  he  paid  no  attention 
to  it;  they  continued  to  come  until  we  got  about  thirty-five  or  forty  thousand. 
We  commenced  our  protests  at  a  time  when  we  had  got  between  ten  and  fifteen 
thousand. 

Captain  Wirz  had  no  right  to  give  any  orders  to  the  commissary;  he  and  the 
commissary  would  confer  together  in  making  their  estimates.  I  think  the  rule 
relative  to  issuing  rations  was  issued  from  Richmond;  I  am  not  positive  about  it, 
but  I  think  it  was  fixed  by  the  commissary-general,  and  the  sub-commissaries 
throughout  the  territory  were  all  bound  by  it.  I  sent  an  officer  to  Columbus  to 
try  and  get  material  for  making  sifters  for  bolting  meal,  and  my  officer  was  in 
formed  that  a  thing  of  that  kind  could  not  be  had  in  the  Confederacy.  He  did 
not  get  anything  of  the  sort. 

It  was  the  duty  of  the  quartermaster,  Captain  Winder,  to  furnish  shelter,  fuel, 
and  such  things  for  the  prisoners.  The  quartermaster  also  had  charge  of  the 
cooking  of  rations,  the  burying  of  the  dead,  and  everything  of  that  kind.  The 
quartermaster  at  Andersonville  did  not  have  half  the  transportation  he  ought  to 
have  had.  I  have  no  idea  of  the  number  of  wagons  I  saw  there.  I  just  know- 
that  what  wagons  he  had  there  were  kept  going  all  the  time,  and  then  could  not 
more  than  half  satisfy  the  wants  of  the  post.  I  have  seen  more  than  four  or 
five  wagons  there.  He  got  in  some  mules  and  wagons  a  short  time  before  I 
left.  For  the  first  month  he  did  not  have  more  than  four  or  five  wagons,  and 
they  belonged  to  the  citizens  there.  The  cook-house  was  under  the  quarter 
master's  control.  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever  had  any  formal  reports  made  to 
me  for  the  want  of  shelter  necessary  for  the  prisoners.  We  frequently  discussed 
the  matter.  I  regretted  that  the  place  was  so  much  embarrassed  as  not  to  be 
able  to  furnish  things  that  were  necessary  for  the  health  of  the  prisoners.  Cap 
tain  Wirz  expressed  great  displeasure  at  the  meagreness  of  the  accommodations 
furnished  and  the  inefficiency  of  the  quartermaster's  department;  he  frequently 
so  expressed  himself  to  me.  Captain  Wirz's  complaints  covered  everything  in 
respect  to  fuel — about  not  having  teams  to  draw  wood. 

Q.  When  you  were  examined  several  days  ago,  you  said  that  you  recollected 
some  fifty  car-loads  of  lumber,  for  the  purpose  of  building  shelter  inside  the 
stockade,  and  that  at  the  time  of  your  relief  that  lumber  disappeared  mysteriously, 
and  none  of  it  went  in  for  shelters? 

A.     That  was  my  testimony. 

Q.     Do  you  still  adhere  to  it? 

A.     I  still  adhere  to  it. 

I  cannot  say  that  Captain  Wirz  did  all  that  it  was  in  his  power  to  do  to 
alleviate  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoners.  I  know  he  labored  indefatigably,  but 
whether  he  accomplished  everything  he  might  have  accomplished,  of  course  I 


TESTIMONY  FOB  DEFENSE.  213 

cannot  say.  All  I  know  is  that  the  prison  was  not  half  cared  for;  I  know  that 
very  well.  I  cannot  say  who  was  responsible  for  its  care.  I  think  the  respon 
sibility  was  in  sending  so  many  prisoners  where  they  could  not  be  properly  cared 
for;  there  is  where  I  think  it  lies.  Those  labors  were  performed  by  Captain  Wirz 
in  the  direction  of  his  line  of  duty,  and  not  expressly  to  alleviate  the  sufferings 
of  the  prisoners.  I  only  remember  that  he  labored  a  long  time  over  that  ditch 
inside  the  prison,  trying  to  clear  it  out -and  plank  it  up,  and  reclaim  the  marsh 
and  bog  on  either  side  of  it,  which  he  did  not  succeed  in  doing;  he  never  suc 
ceeded  fully  in  doing  it. 

TESTIMONY  OF  MAJOR  GEORGE  L.   PROCTOR.   C.   S.   A.1 

I  reside  in  Barren  County,  Kentucky.  During  the  last  two  years  I  have  been 
a  major  and  commissary  of  subsistence;  I  was  at  Andersonville  a  portion  of  the 
time.  I  was  on  duty  at  Andersonville  from,  I  think,  about  the  21st  of  August 
till  the  last  of  November,  1864. 

I  received  my  orders  relative  to  the  issue  of  commissary  stores  from  the 
district  commissary  and  from  the  commandant  of  the  post;  I  was  under  his  order. 
General  Winder  was  commander  of  the  post  while  I  was  at  Andersonville. 
Captain  Wirz  had  no  command  or  authority  over  me  in  any  way;  he  was  not 
in  command  of  the  prison  when  I  first  went  on  duty  there;  Lieutenant  Davis 
was  in  command.  All  I  know  about  Captain  Wirz's  absence  or  sickness  is  that 
he  was  absent  during  August,  perhaps  until  the  latter  part  of  August.  Lieu 
tenant  Davis  made  the  requisitions  for  the  commissary  during  that  time. 

Q.  Did  Lieutenant  Davis  issue  the  requisitions  in  the  same  capacity  and  for 
the  same  purposes  that  Captain  Wirz  did  after  he  came  back1? 

A.  I  presume  so;  Lieutenant  Davis  made  the  requisition  for  the  number  of 
prisoners — the  daily  requisitions  which  were  approved  by  the  commandant  of 
the  post.  I  would  not  have  issued  the  rations  on  any  requisition  which  was  not 
approved  by  the  commandant;  that  was  not  the  custom.  The  requisition  for 
the  hospital  came  from  the  surgeon  in  charge;  Captain  Wirz  had  nothing  to  do 
with  them;  they  were  approved  likewise  by  the  commandant  of  the  post. 

Miss  Mary  Rawson,  who  resided  "on  the  plains  of  Dura,"  was  called 
for  the  defense.  Her  testimony  was  to  the  effect  that  she  visited  tho 
prison  in  January,  1865,  and  occasionally  afterwards,  her  object  being 
to  give  aid  to  Peter  Kean  of  the  16th  Iowa  Regiment.  Her  testimony 
was  to  the  effect  that  Captain  Wirz  treated  her  kindly  and  allowed 
her  to  send  provisions  to  Private  Kean.2 

TESTIMONY   OF   COLONEL.   RUFFIN. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  F.  G.  Ruffin,  C.  S.  A.,  was  in  the  subsistence 
department  of  the  Confederacy.  It  will  be  observed  that  the  prisoners 
were  removed  from  Richmond  to  get  them  "to  the  seat  of  plenty." 
He  testified : 

1  Record,  p.  668  et  seq. 

2  Record,  p.  607.     This  was  probably  one  of  those  occasional  incidents  where  the  affections 
of  the  heart  triumphed  over  sectional  prejudices. 


214  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

One  of  the  objects  of  sending  prisoners  to  Georgia  was  to  get  them  to  what 
we  considered  a  good  region  of  the  country  because  we  were  drawing  supplies 
from  Georgia  to  feed  General  Lee.  I  reside  near  the  city  of  Richmond,  Virginia; 
I  was,  by  promotion  in  the  latter  part  of  the  war,  lieutenant-colonel  in  the  sub 
sistence  department  of  the  Confederate  States  armies.  All  my  duties  from  the 
commencement  of  the  war  until  I  resigned,  a  month  or  two  before  its  close,  were 
in  that  department  and  nowhere  else. 

Q.  State  to  the  court  what  you  know  in  reference  to  the  lack  or  deficiency  of 
commissary  supplies  in  that  department. 

A.  I  hardly  know  how  to  commence  answering  that;  I  can  only  say  that  from 
the  beginning  there  was  more  or  less  scarcity;  that  that  scarcity  was  appre 
hended  from  the  beginning  by  the  commissary  department;  that  steps  were 
being  taken  all  the  time,  with  more  and  more  earnestness  and  energy  and  anxiety, 
as  the  war  progressed,  to  obtain  supplies,  especially  of  meat,  which  in  that  section 
of  the  country  had  always  been  insufficient  for  the  support  of  the  inhabitants  of 
that  country;  that  that  scarcity  which  did  exist  to  a  certain  degree  at  the  begin 
ning  of  the  war,  and  to  a  greater  extent  than  it  had  existed  before — because  our 
wholesale  men,  apprehending  the  storm  that  was  impending,  had  forborne  to 
import  their  usual  supplies  of  meat  through  that  section — that  that  scarcity  com 
mencing  in  that  way  increased  in  all  sections  to  absolute  privation;  I  do  not 
mean  to  say  the  point  of  starvation,  but  to  the  point  of  privation. 

It  was  the  case  more  or  less  with  reference  to  all  supplies,  some  of  which  we 
had  not  in  sufficient  quantities  even  for  hospital  purposes.  Some  of  the  articles 
of  daily  domestic  consumption,  and  of  regular  army  and  hospital  supplies,  were 
not  to  be  had  at  all  at  sometimes,  and  at  all  times  in  diminished  quantities. 
Coffee,  for  instance,  was  the  most  important  of  that  class  of  articles. 

Q.  Was  that  privation  confined -to  any  class,  or  did  it  affect  rich  and  poor  alike? 
A.  They  were  all  alike  so  far  as  I  know.  Of  course  those  who  were  well  off 
did  better  than  those  who  were  very  poor,  as  is  always  the  case  under  such  cir 
cumstances,  but  the  privation  applied  to  all  classes.  I  was  in  another  branch  of 
the  service,  and  can  only  speak  of  general  causes.  One  of  the  causes,  particularly 
towards  the  last  of  the  war,  as  affecting  us  in  Georgia,  from  which  we  drew  a 
quantity  of  our  supplies,  was  the  raids  upon  our  railroads. 

When  the  army  wintered  from  Gordonsville  down  along  the  line  of  the  Central 
railroad,  the  rations  were  reduced  to  a  quarter  pound  of  meat  per  day.  The 
same  reduction  was  ordered  everywhere  else.  General  Bragg  had  drawn  on  the 
reserves  which  we  had  accumulated  at  Atlanta  for  General  Lee's  army,  he  being 
unable  to  get  a  supply  from  Tennessee,  and  that  compelled  the  order  for  reduc 
tion.  The  generals  all  remonstrated,  and  said  they  could  not  keep  their  armies 
together  on  that.  At  last  General  Lee  remonstrated;  his  army  subsisted  for 
some  time,  I  do  not  recollect  how  long,  on  that  quarter  pound  of  meat  per  day, 
which  was  afterwards  increased  to  one-third  of  a  pound;  and  all  his  battles  were 
fought  upon  one-third  of  a  pound  of  meat  per  day.  In  both  years  from  the  time 
he  wintered  on  the  Rapidan— in  1863-'64,  and  then  in  1864-'65.  The  bread  ration 
was  reduced  at  the  same  time.  Our  original  ration  had  been  18  ounces  of  flour 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE. 


215 


per  day,  I  forget  what  it  was  in  corn  meal;  it  was  presumed  to  be  an  equivalent. 
The  bread  ration,  as  I  say,  was  also  reduced,  and  when  General  Lee  wintered  from 
Gordonsville  on  the  line  of  the  Central  Eailroad,  we  were  compelled  to  give  the 
troops  coffee  in  order  to  eke  out  the  rations.  We  obtained  the  coffee  by  running 
the  blockade  at  great  expense  and  risk.  The  supply  of  coffee  was  very  scarce.  The 
quantity  that  the  men  got  was  less  than  they  were  entitled  to.  I  only  know  the  fact 
that  it  was  much  reduced,  and  that  only  men  in  the  field  had  it;  officers  at  posts, 
and  men  on  post  duty,  or  at  posts,  did  not  have  it. 

Q.     State  the  whole  ration.     You  have  stated  bread  and  meat;  anything  else? 

A.  Nothing  further  than  sugar  and  coffee.  Occasionally  the  men  got  issues 
of  vegetables,  principally  rice  and  peas.  What  was  the  precise  apportionment 
of  the  ration  I  forget.  As  to  other  items 
of  the  rations,  their  supply  was  all  in 
reduced  quantities.  I  cannot  answer 
arithmetically  what  proportion  of  the 
whole  ration  our  men  had.  I  should 
judge. — but  it  is  a  mere  matter  of 
opinion;  I  do  not  say  it  is  a  fact  that  I 
can  establish;  I  could  not  without  refer 
ring  to  documents  not  in  my  possession — 
but  I  should  say  the  ration  was  less  than 
two-thirds  of  the  original,  the  meat  alone 
being  reduced  to  one-third  of  a  pound. 
I  say  that  cautiously;  but  I  am  very  cer 
tain  that  I  am  within  bounds  when  I  say 
it  was  less  than  two-thirds  the  full  ration. 

The  prisoners  who  were  well,  received 
precisely  the  same  rations  as  their  guards 
did;  they  got  what  the  soldiers  who  were 
considered  as  being  at  post,  and  on  light 
duty,  were  allowed,  that  is,  our  own 
soldiers.  I  know  that  was  the  order. 
My  knowledge  extended  more  or  less 
into  all  other  departments.  I  was  in  BURYING  THE  DEAD  IN  TRENCHES. 

Eichmond,  very  near  to  the  various  departments  of  the  government,  for  four 
years,  and  was  compelled  to  know  a  good  deal  about  what  was  going  on  in  those 
offices.  I  know  there  was  a  deficiency  in  both  those  two  great  branches  of  the 
quartermasters'  department,  to  wit,  railroad  transportation  and  wagon  transporta 
tion,  all  the  way  through. 

Q.     How  was  it  in  1864,  and  up  to  the  point  in  1865  when  the  war  was  closed? 

A.  It  was  much  worse  than  it  had  been.  We  regarded  the  railroad  system 
of  the  South  at  that  time  as  completely  broken  down. 

We  found  it  impossible  to  get  supplies  from  the  Southwest  in  adequate  quan 
tities.  My  observation  was  not  confined  principally  to  Virginia  and  General 
Lee's  army.  The  armies  in  the  Southwest  fared  better  than  General  Lee's  army, 
because  they  were  in  Georgia,  where  there  was  more  abundance.  They  could  not 


216  THE  TEAGEDT  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

draw  from  the  East.  After  Sheridan's  raid  up  the  valley,  which  destroyed  an 
immense  quantity  of  supplies  there,  and  threw  a  large  portion  of  that  community, 
which  had  before  been  feeding  us,  into  the  market  competing  against  us  for  sup 
plies,  our  supplies  had  to  be  drawn  from  southwestern  Georgia;  and  then,  because 
of  the  difficulties  of  transportation,  we  suffered.  I  know  only  so  much  of  the 
details  in  the  working  of  my  department  as  a  staff  officer  would  be  expected  to 
know,  located  at  headquarters.* 

Q.  With  reference  to  the  subsisting  of  particular  brigades  or  divisions,  or 
small  armies,  you  did  not  pretend  to  know? 

A.  With  reference  to  a  distinct  organization  as  an  army,  I  had  knowledge; 
but  whether  Major  C.  fed  his  brigade  properly  or  not,  was  a  question  with  which 
I  had  nothing  to  do.  If  I  saw  that  an  army  was  supplied  with  what  I  could 
get  for  it,  my  duties  were  discharged.  The  details  after  that  I  knew  nothing 
about  except  incidentally;  but  it  was  not  my  business. 

Q.  For  instance,  you  would  not  pretend  to  know  how  the  prison  at  Ander- 
sonville  was  managed? 

A.  On  the  contrary,  I  would  not  only  not  pretend  to  know,  but  I  insist  on  it 
that  I  do  not  know.  I  could  not  know.  I  would  have  been  acting  without  the 
line  of  my  duty  if  I  did  know  it,  except  accidentally;  and,  accidentally,  I  do  not 
know  anything  about  it. 

Captain  C.  M.  Selph,  was  recalled  for  the  defense.  His  testimony 
related  to  the  efforts  made  to  distribute  sanitary  goods  sent  south  and 
the  difficulties  attending  it.  He  testified  that  he  knew  nothing  of 
the  matter  as  to  Andersonville.2 

TESTIMONY  OF   CAPTAIN  WRIGHT. 

Captain  J.  H.  Wright,  recalled  for  the  defense.  He  was  a  quarter 
master  of  the  55th  Georgia  Regiment ;  stationed  at  Andersonville,  and 
was  there  from  February,  1864,  until  February,  1865. 3 

My  regiment  received  the  same  rations  as  other  troops  there;  the  rations  were 
inferior.  We  had  nothing  but  coarse  corn  meal,  which  was  frequently  musty. 
We  got  one-third  of  a  pound  of  bacon,  and  sometimes  this  poor  Florida  beef, 
which  was  always  inferior  or  mostly  so.  1  suppose  it  was  the  same  as  the  Fed 
eral  prisoners  received.  It  came  from  the  commissary,  and  they  all  drew  from 
the  same  place.  I  never  saw  any  difference  made.  It  would  be  impossible  for 
me  to  tell  about  the  number  of  prisoners  before  the  quartermaster  succeeded  in 
getting  lumber  or  bricks  for  ovens,  or  anything  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
prisoners.  I  know  that  prisoners  were  coming  in  constantly,  and  it  was  some 
time  in  April  or  May  I  think  before  arrangements  were  completed.  There  were 
not  so  many  as  20,000  or  30,000.  There  might  have  been  some  ten  or  twelve 
thousand  or  perhaps  fifteen  thousand.  I  cannot  give  anything  like  a  correct 
idea  about  that.  They  never  did  have  a  sufficient  quantity  of  these  conveniences. 

1  The  short  rations  applied   more   especially  to   General   Lee's   forces.      Supplies   were   more 
abundant  in  the  Western  armies. 

2  Record,  p.  613. 

*  Record,  p.  479  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  217 

The  ovens  never  were  capacitated  for  cooking  enough  for  the  prisoners.  I  have 
been  in  the  stockade  frequently,  and  the  prisoners  never  did  have  their  rations 
all  cooked.  I  do  not  know  if  it  was  because  bricks  could  not  be  supplied.  I  know 
they  did  not  have  it.i 

Q.  What  were  your  efforts  to  get  supplies  for  that  post — lumber,  nails,  and 
other  supplies? 

A.  I  could  not  get  any  lumber  at  all.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  succeeded  in 
getting  but  about  two  thousand  feet  of  lumber.  I  made  every  effort  possible. 
I  tried  every  man  that  had  a  mill  near  there.  I  went  to  Captain  K.  B.  Winder 
every  week,  and  made  efforts  to  get  lumber  from  him  and  General  Winder. 

I  know  that  there  were  several  inspectors  sent  to  Andersonville.  General  Cobb, 
General  Wright,  and  one  or  two  others,  whose  names  I  do  not  remember,  and 
Colonel  Chandler  came  there.  I  never  saw  any  improvement  after  their  inspec- 
tions.2 

My  regiment  built  barracks  for  themselves.  They  had  no  trouble  in  getting 
the  wood  or  lumber  they  wanted  for  that  purpose.  The  barracks  did  not  have 
floors — that  is,  they  had  dirt  floors.  They  built  the  barracks  of  split  pine  logs. 
I  did  not  hear  a  great  deal  of  complaint  of  the  want  of  facilities  for  building 
those  barracks.  I  was  not  able  to  get  any  lumber,  but  Captain  Winder,  when  he 
left,  turned  over  to  me  about  125,000  feet  of  lumber.  I  built  all  the  prison 
hospital  that  is  there  now  with  it.  I  do  not  know  how  long  it  had  been  on 
hand.  It  came  in  possibly  in  the  summer  months.  It  was  piled  up  and  no  use 
was  made  of  it;  and  at  the  same  time  the  prisoners  were  suffering  for  want  of 
shelter.  When  I  say  I  was  not  able  to  get  lumber,  I  mean  that  I  was  not  able 
to  get  any  but  what  was  on  hand,  and  that  was  not  sufficient.  I  know  that 
Colonel  Persons  while  there  got  a  great  lot  of  lumber.  He  got  lumber  towards 
the  latter  part  of  his  stay  there.  He  stayed  there  till  some  time  in  June.  I  know 
that  that  lumber  was  not  used  for  sheltering  the  prisoners. 

I  do  not  say  positively  that  the  Confederate  ration  was  the  same  as  that  given 
to  the  prisoners  of  war.  I  say  that  as  far  as  I  know  it  was;  I  know  it  came 
out  of  the  same  commissary.  I  do  not  know  in  what  condition  it  reached  the 
prisoners.  I  did  not  follow  the  rations  to  the  prisoners.  I  know  they  did  not 
receive  the  same  inside  the  stockade.  I  know  that  when  the  ration  was  cooked 
and  they  received  it  inside,  it  was  not  as  good  as  the  Confederate  soldiers,  and 
not  near  as  much.  I  know  that  the  condition  of  the  cook-house  was  such  that 
it  rendered  the  rations  almost  unfit  for  use.  I  know  the  cook-house  was  very 
filthy;  they  used  to  knead  up  the  dough  in  a  trough,  and  it  seemed  to  me  as  if 
it  was  shortened  with  flies;  it  was  full  of  flies  when  they  worked  it  up;  they 
worked  it  up  with  a  hoe,  or  something  that  looked  like  a  hoe,  and  then  afterwards 
it  was  baked  in  large  loaves.  You  could  break  the  loaf  open  and  see  flies  in  it. 
I  never  tasted  it;  I  know  the  prisoners  complained  of  it.  It  was  not  baked 
through  and  through;  it  did  not  appear  to  be  properly  done.  There  were  no 
boards  of  survey  organized  at  Captain  Wirz's  instance.  I  do  not  know  at  whose 
instance  they  were  organized.  I  know  I  have  been  on  boards  of  survey  there 
myself;  I  was  on  a  board  of  survey  on  some  rotten  meat  and  bacon;  I  do  not 

1  In  the  cramped  space  given  each  prisoner,  with  scant  fuel,  how  could  he  cook  his  ration? 
'This  was  true  to  the  end. 


218  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

remember  the  date.  It  was  in  the  summer,  I  think,  perhaps  in  July.  It  was 
not  a  very  frequent  occurrence  to  organize  boards  of  survey  there  to  condemn 
provisions;  it  might  have  been  though,  and  I  might  not  have  known  it;  I  know 
of  two  boards  there.* 

Q.  Do  you  not  know  that  a  great  many  provisions  were  issued  to  the  prisoners 
of  war  there  that  would  have  been  properly  condemned  by  a  board  of  survey? 

A.  Well,  I  do  not  know  what  they  would  have  done.  I  have  seen  provisions 
that  I  would  have  condemned  if  I  had  been  on  a  board.  I  have  seen  a  good  deal 
of  beef  at  different  times;  I  do  not  know  the  quantity,  but  I  did  not  think  it  fit 
to  eat.  I  do  not  remember  being  on  but  one  board  that  condemned  anything 
from  the  commissary,  and  that  was  a  lot  of  bacon  and  meat.  We  condemned  it; 
it  was  not  fit  for  anything;  it  was  perfectly  rotten.  I  do  not  think  it  was  issued 
again  to  the  prisoners,  because  it  was  perfectly  rotten  and  could  not  be  used. 

The  order  forbidding  bathing  above  the  stockade  was  not  obeyed.  The  stream 
in  which  the  men  bathed  flowed  through  the  stockade. 

Negro  laborers  were  procured  for  the  purpose  of  building  trenches  and  labor 
ing  in  the  stockade.  I  never  had  any  difficulty  in  getting  all  the  negro  labor  I 
wanted;  I  never  had  any  use  for  negro  laborers.  When  requisitions  were  made 
for  them  I  suppose  they  were  obtainable;  I  think  the  planters  volunteered  and 
sent  in  their  negroes  by  request  of  General  Winder;  I  do  not  think  he  impressed 
them.  It  did  not  become  necessary;  I  know  as  a  fact  that  there  were  plenty  of 
negroes  in  that  neighborhood.2 

Let  the  reader  pause  at  this  point,  turn  back  and  carefully  consider 
the  testimony  of  these  twenty  rebel  witnesses.  Not  one  had  the  hardi 
hood  to  deny  the  existence  of  the  awful  sufferings,  the  needless  mortal 
ity  which  will  be  found  described  in  preceding  chapters.  Not  one 
witness  stated  a  single  fact  that  tended  to  exculpate  the  authorities 
at  Richmond  for  causing  this  suffering  and  death.  Some  evidence 
there  is  that  Wirz  was  not  wholly  to  blame,  but  when  sifted  down  to 
its  relevant  and  forceful  elements,  it  furnishes  no  escape  for  the  keeper 
of  that  prison  from  the  logical  and  necessary  consequences  of  his  acts 
of  omission  and  commission. 

Witnesses  testify  that  the  same  ration  was  supposed  to  be  issued 
alike  to  the  rebel  camp  and  to  prisoners,  though  these  witnesses  could 
not  testify  that  it  reached  the  prisoners.  The  camp  guard  had  bar 
racks  ;  they  had  no  difficulty  in  getting  plenty  of  wood ;  they  not  only 
had  the  ration  issued  to  them  but  a  plentiful  supply,  as  needed,  came 
to  them  from  their  homes.  They  did  not  starve  to  death  because  of 
the  treatment  given  them,  while  the  prisoners  did  starve  to  death  be 
cause  of  the  treatment  they  received.  Even  the  very  cautious  Father 

JThe  utter  inadequacy  of  the  cooking  arrangements  and  their  unsanitary  condition  are  fre 
quently  mentioned  by  witnesses. 

2  With  the  prisoners  anxious  to  work  and  negroes  abundant,  why  was  nothing  done  to 
enlarge  the  stockade  or  provide  wood? 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  219 

Whelan,  in  his  carefully  guarded  answers,  could  not  deny  the  fact 
that  starvation  stalked  through  the  prison  pen  claiming  its  victims. 
Georgia,  the  witnesses  tell  us,  was  the  chief  source  of  supply  for  the 
rebel  armies;  Anderson ville  was  chosen  as  the  situs  of  this  prison  for 
that  reason,  said  Mr.  Davis,  but  yet,  in  the  midst  of  this  region  of 
plenty,  prisoners  of  war,  in  appalling  numbers  were,  with  ingenious 
cruelty,  permitted  to  starve  to  death. 

These  witnesses  were  called  by  the  prisoner,  presumably,  to  shed 
some  ray  of  favorable  light  upon  the  dark  picture  which  had  been 
thrown  upon  the  canvas  by  preceding  witnesses.  If  there  existed  any 
facts  in  dispute  or  in  palliation  of  the  frightful  sufferings,  the  awful 
mortality  depicted  in  the  course  of  the  trial,  these  witnesses  might  be 
expected  to  furnish  the  evidence. 

In  vain  will  the  reader  look  for  any  mitigating  circumstances  or 
extenuating  facts. 

"We  come  now  to  a  group  of  witnesses,  twelve  in  all,  who  were  called 
by  the  prisoner  with  a  view  in  some  degree  to  weaken  the  testimony 
of  their  companions  in  misery.  They  testified  to  different  matters 
some  of  which  bore  more  particularly  upon  the  personal  treatment  of 
the  prisoners  by  Wirz  and  will  be  referred  to  in  that  connection.  At 
present  their  testimony  will  be  confined  mostly  to  the  subjects  now 
under  examination. 

Vincenzo  Bardo  was  called  to  relate  a  circumstance  involving  Wirz 
in  the  charge  of  having  caused  two  prisoners  to  be  whipped  who,  in 
an  effort  to  escape,  disguised  themselves  by  blacking  their  faces  and 
going  out  of  the  stockade  with  some  negroes.  Upon  being  detected 
they  were  whipped  and  put  in  the  stocks.  It  will  be  seen  later  on  that 
Wirz  gave  the  order,  according  to  the  witnesses  for  the  prosecution, 
and  it  was  this  that  Bardo  was  called  to  dispute.  His  testimony  will  be 
given  here  somewhat  out  of  place,  as  he  testified,  among  other  things, 
that  he  attempted  to  escape  because  he  was  starving  in  the  prison : 

TESTIMONY  OF  VINCENZO  BARDO.1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States.  I  arrived  at  Ander- 
sonville  in  June,  1864. 

I  was  in  the  stockade;  I  got  out  of  the  stockade  by  blacking  my  face;  I 
blacked  my  coat  and  from  that  blacked  my  face  to  go  outside  of  the  gate;  I 
went  outside  with  the  negroes;  we  went  down  to  the  front  of  the  "Dutch  cap 
tain's"  quarters;  some  of  us  had  picks  and  some  shovels;  we  went  through  the 
outside  gate;  we  were  trying  to  skedaddle;  a  lieutenant. — I  don't  know  his  name 

1  Record,  p.  512  et  seq. 


220  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

— asked  me  what  I  was  doing  round  there;  he  asked  me,  "Are  you  a  nigger  or 
a  white  man?"  Then  he  took  off  my  hat  and  said,  "You  are  a  white  man."  I 
said,  "Yes."  He  said,  "Why  the  hell  did  you  black  your  face?"  I  said  that  I 
had  blacked  my  face  to  try  to  run  away;  then  he  took  hold  of  me  and  put  me 
in  the  stocks;  the  stocks  came  round  my  neck  and  my  hands  were  stretched  out; 
he  gave  me  twenty-five  lashes  on  my  back;  when  I  was  taken  out  of  the  stocks 
I  was  put  in  the  stockade  for  four  hours;  then  put  in  the  stocks  again  for  four 
hours,  and  then  I  was  put  in  the  stockade  again;  the  lieutenant  left  me  in  the 
stocks. 

[The  prisoner  at  the  request  of  the  counsel  stood  up.] 

Q.     Is  that  the  man  who  gave  you  the  twenty-five  lashes? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  know  him;  he  is  the  "Dutch  captain."  The  man  who  gave 
me  the  twenty-five  lashes  was  a  small  man — smaller  than  me;  he  had  no  whiskers 
at  all.  The  man  wore  a  black  hat  with  a  feather.  I  think  this  was  in  August. 
I  do  not  know  who  gave  the  orders  to  have  me  whipped;  the  lieutenant  put  me 
in  the  stocks  himself;  I  do  not  know  who  ordered  him  to  do  so;  I  think  the  lieu 
tenant  was  on  duty  at  Captain  Wirz's  office;  I  do  not  know  whether  he  was 
ordered  to  put  me  in  the  stocks  or  not;  I  blacked  myself  to  try  to  run  away;  I 
wanted  to  run  away  because  I  felt  very  bad;  I  was  starving;  a  good  many 
around  me  were  starving;  I  wanted  to  get  away  because  I  was  starving.! 

TESTIMONY   OF   FREDERICK   ROTH. 

Frederick  Roth  was  called  for  the  defense.  Except  as  to  individual 
acts  of  cruelty  by  Wirz  his  testimony  strongly  corroborates  that  of 
his  fellow  sufferers.2 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States — in  the  2d  New  York 
Cavalry.  I  was  taken  to  Andersonville  about  the  20th  of  March,  1864.  I  left 
Andersonville  on  the  9th  of  September,  1864.  I  was  inside  the  stockade  all  the 
time,  except  when  I  would  get  out  for  wood. 

In  some  places  the  water  was  very  good.  In  other  places  the  water  that  ran 
through  the  brook  was  not  fit  to  drink.  There  were  wells  and  springs  in  the  stock 
ade.  There  were  not  enough  wells  in  proportion  to  the  men.  I  should  think 
there  were  about  400  of  different  kinds.  The  springs  were  mostly  along  the 
swamp.  In  half  of  them  the  water  was  not  fit  to  drink,  on  account  of  the  mag 
gots  that  ran  all  over  the  swamp  into  the  water.  In  the  wells  that  were  deep— 
seventy-five  feet  deep — there  was  good  water  for  any  one  that  could  get  it. 

For  the  first  two  months  that  I  was  there  we  got  more  meal  than  we  could 
use.  We  had  it  there  by  bags  full.  For  the  last  three  months  that  I  was  there 
we  had  not  enough  to  eat  in  what  was  issued  to  us.  I  know  of  the  rations  being 
sometimes  very  deficient.  They  would  be  so  because  some  of  the  detachments 
that  were  not  full  drew  just  as  much  rations  as  the  detachments  that  had  their 
full  complement.  The  sergeants  generally  drew,  if  they  could,  for  their  whole 
squad,  accounting  for  the  men  some  way  or  other.  A  good  many  drew  double 
rations. 

1  This  is  a  witness  called  by  Wirz.     May  we  not  accept  his  statement  that  he  was  starving? 
1  Record,  p.  604. 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  221 

The  first  part  of  the  time  the  biggest  part  of  the  trading  was  done  by  the 
post  adjutant.  He  had  a  man  inside  selling  for  him.  I  have  seen  men  going 
into  the  stockade  and  trading.  The  men  traded  with  the  guards  in  day-time 
and  at  night.  There  were  a  good  many  stores  at  Andersonville.  Men  could 
buy  almost  everything  there  as  in  this  city,  if  they  had  the  money.  Of  course, 
there  were  a  few  things  which  could  not  be  bought  there.  I  did  not  know  of  any 
eating-houses  there.  There  were  places  where  they  sometimes  boiled  eggs  and 
fried  eggs,  with  meat  which  they  bought  from  prisoners,  or  the  quartermaster, 
or  stole.  I  cannot  say  that  there  was  much  money  in  the  -stockade.  I  know 
that  I  did  not  have  much.  This  adjutant  used  to  bring  in  a  good  deal  of  salt, 
and  the  guards  would  sell  it  in  small  quantities,  in  haversacks.  I  never  saw  any 
of  the  outside  prisoners  trading  or  selling  to  those  inside  the  stockade. 

The  water  of  the  brook  that  ran  through  the  stockade  was  not  fit  to  drink. 
The  biggest  part  of  the  men  had  to  drink  it,  because  they  could  not  get  any 
other.  I  have  been  dry  myself  and  would  not  drink  it,  because  I  did  not  like 
it.  Sometimes  the  men  who  had  wells  would  give  me  a  drink,  and  sometimes 
they  would  not.  It  depended  upon  their  charity  and  their  disposition  to  give  to 
me.  The  water  in  the  spring  near  the  swamp  was  not  fit  to  drink.  The  swamp 
overran  with  all  kinds  of  filth.  I  suffered  some  on  account  of  the  water.  I 
have  been  hot  and  dry,  staying  in  the  sun  without  shelter,  and  have  gone  down 
for  a  drink.  The  scum  on  the  top  of  the  water  would  be  like  as  if  there  was 
liquor  thrown  on  it,  and  I  would  have  to  wash  it  off  or  dip  under  it.  The  water 
would  not  smell,  but  it  would  not  taste  good.  I  would  not  like  to  drink  it.  We 
could  see  by  standing  on  the  hill  that  the  people  in  the  cook-house  would  empty 
slops  right  into  it.  We  knew  that  was  the  way  they  did  it.  The  slops  from  the 
rebel  camps  above  went  into  the  brook.  It  was  pretty  bad  water  to  drink. 

I  suffered  from  hunger  and  exposure  at  Andersonville.  For  two  weeks  I  did 
not  think  I  would  ever  see  Yankeedom  again.  I  am  not  as  strong  now  as  I  was 
when  I  was  taken  to  Andersonville.  The  diarrhoea  that  I  had  there  for  two  weeks 
affects  me  still. 

I  had  nothing  to  eat  some  part  of  the  time  while  I  was  at  Andersonville.  I 
should  judge  that  that  was  true  of  a  good  many  in  camp,  except  those  who  had 
lots  of  money,  or  who  carried  on  trade  or  business.  Those  who  had  money  had 
the  best  chance  to  trade.  If  a  fellow  with  only  one  or  two  dollars  was  trying 
to  trade  with  a  Confederate,  some  other  fellow  would  come  up  and  offer  more 
and  get  it  from  him.  Those  traders  ruled  the  camp  pretty  much.1 

I  saw  a  good  deal  of  suffering  in  the  stockade.  I  saw  some  men  lying  near  the 
swamp;  they  would  crawl  down  as  near  as  they  could.  If  they  went  near  a 
tent  they  would  be  clubbed  away  down  into  the  swamp,  and  then  some  of  them 
got  so  that  they  could  not  stir,  and  they  'would  lie  down  at  the  swamp  until  they 
died.  Some  had  scurvy,  which  drew  them  up  like  a  cripple.  They  could  not 
stir,  unless  some  one  would  help  them.  There  were  some  who  had  not  enough 
to  eat,  and  who  would  go  around  and  pick  up  the  crumbs  from  the  wagon  that 
came  in  with  rations. 

I  cannot  recollect  how  many  died  out  of  my  90.  I  know  that  some  died.  I  know 
that  about  800  left  Belle  Island  with  me,  and  about  500  of  them  died. 


Many  witnesses  testified  that  there  never  was  any  difficulty  in  purchasing  all  kinds  of  food. 


222  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

The  squad  that  I  belonged  to  got  no  rations  on  the  3d  or  4th  of  July;  I  know 
that  I  did  not.  I  don't  know  how  the  rest  of  the  camp  were  off  in  regard  to 
rations  on  those  days.  I  think  some  of  them  got  it,  but  others  did  not.  None 
of  the  detachments  right  by  me  got  any  rations.  Once  before,  in  the  month  of 
April  or  May,  rations  were  stopped  for  one  day  on  one  side  of  the  creek,  while 
the  prisoners  on  the  other  side  of  the  creek  got  the  rations.  I  saw  Captain  Wirz 
the  first  time  he  called  the  roll.  I  think  the  rations  were  stopped  once  in  April, 
because  the  men  broke  ranks;  the  men  on  one  side  stayed  in  ranks,  and  on  the 
other  side  they  did  not.  I  saw  he  gave  the  men  on  one  side  their  rations  and 
did  not  give  any  rations  to  the  men  on  the  other  side.  There  were  only  about 
ten  thousand  prisoners  there  then.i 

Joseph  Thuringer,  of  the  18th  Veteran  Reserves,  was  called  for  the 
defense.  It  appeared  that  he  was  not  at  Andersonville  but  was  called 
to  show  the  disposition  of  Wirz  as  to  kindness  in  treating  the  witness 
while  a  prisoner  at  Tuscaloosa,  Alabama,  in  1861.  It  did  not  very 
clearly  appear  that  Wirz  was  there  but  the  witness  thought  he  was 
the  same  man.  He  was  permitted  to  testify  to  Wirz's  reputation,  but 
he  said  that  he  had  never  heard  it  discussed.2 

TESTIMONY  OF  ROBERT  H.  KELLOGG. 

Robert  H.  Kellogg  was  recalled  for  the  defense.  His  testimony  for 
the  prosecution  has  already  been  given.  His  testimony  as  a  witness 
for  the  defense  was  as  follows  :3 

I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville.  I  cannot  state  the  number  of  prisoners 
coming  into  the  stockade  there  daily  during  the  summer  of  1864,  while  I  was 
there,  with  accuracy.  We  received  prisoners  nearly  every  day,  from  100  to  800 
or  900 — 1,100,  I  believe,  is  the  most  I  ever  remember  being  received  in  one  day; 
that  was  during  the  summer,  while  the  fighting  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  and 
Sherman's  army  was  going  on.  The  prisoners  from  the  Army  of  the  Potomac  as 
they  came  in,  were,  as  a  general  thing,  destitute  of  blankets,  haversacks  and  every 
thing  but  the  clothes  they  had  on.  I  mean  when  they  came  into  the  stockade. 

I  was  in  the  stockade  from  May  3  till  September  10,  1864.  During  the  time 
I  was  there,  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  knew  or  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  kicking, 
striking,  or  shooting  a  prisoner  so  that  he  died,  that  I  remember.  I  have  written 
a  book  descriptive  of  Andersonville  Prison.  The  title  of  that  book  is  "Life  and 
Death  in  Eebel  Prisons."  I  left  it  in  the  hands  of  Colonel  Chipman,  the  Judge 
Advocate. 

Q.  Did  you  never  hear  of  Captain  Wirz  ill-treating  any  prisoner  of  war  in  his 
custody? 

A.  I  do  not  remember  any  special  case  of  ill-treatment.  I  speak  of  nothing 
of  that  kind  in  my  book,  that  I  recollect  now,  not  of  my  own  personal  observation. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.    I  am  not  speaking  of  your  observation. 

1  This  stoppage  of  rations  is  here  testified  to  by  the  prisoner's  witness.     Many  others  testified 
to  like  effect.     He  also  testified  that  he  suffered  for  lack  of  food. 

2  Record,  p.  529. 

8  Record,  p.  651  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  223 

WITNESS.  I  don't  remember  having  heard  it.  I  state  that  in  my  book  I  relate 
no  instances  of  personal  cruelty  committed  by  Captain  Wirz,  as  I  understood  it, 
that  I  recollect.  I  do  not  say  that  I  never  heard  any  complaint  made  with 
regard  to  Captain  Wirz's  brutal  treatment  of  prisoners.  His  character  was  cruel 
and  brutal,  and  we  all  understood  that  perfectly  well.  We  understood  that  from 
hearing  his  language,  which  was  insulting  and  profane;  and  from  the  general 
treatment  there  in  the  prison.  We  saw  that  we  were  badly  treated  and  miserably 
provided  for;  and  we  naturally  supposed  that  he,  as  commandant  of  the  prison, 
was,  in  a  great  degree  at  least  responsible  for  it;  we  supposed,  of  course  that 
somebody  was  responsible  for  it.  There  was  discussion  among  us  with  regard 
to  how  he  would  treat  prisoners  when  they  arrived  and  afterward. 

Q.     What  was  said  about  that? 

[Question  objected  to  by  counsel  for  the  accused.  The  court,  after  delibera 
tion,  overruled  the  objection.] 

THE  WITNESS  [continuing]  :  I  stated  before  that  I  did  not  recollect  any  instance 
of  cruelty.  I  have  called  to  mind  one  that  I  do  remember.  It  was  the  time 
some  of  Sherman's  raiders  were  captured,  and  were  brought  into  prison  robbed 
of  nearly  everything.  I  have  seen  some  of  them  with  merely  a  shirt  and  pants, 
no. hat,  shoes,  or  coats;  and  I  have  heard  statements  of  those  men  that  they  were 
searched  outside  before  they  were  brought  into  prison,  and  robbed  of  everything, 
even  their  pocket-knives,  photographs,  pictures,  and  things  of  no  value;  and  I 
have  heard  the  statement  of  other  prisoners  who  have  come  in  there  destitute 
of  nearly  everything,  telling  how  they  have  been  robbed  of  them.  Captain  Wirz 
was  always  very  rough  and  brutal  in  his  mode  of  conducting  business,  so  far  as 
I  saw;  and  he  was  not  very  choice  in  his  selection  of  names  for  the  Yankees.  I 
do  not  say  that  he  did  not  kick,  beat,  or  shoot  to  death  a  prisoner,  but  I  say  that 
I  do  not  know  it  myself.  Well,  I  don't  recollect  now,  if  I  speak  of  instances 
of  that  kind  in  my  own  book.  We  all  knew  his  reputation  and  character  for 
cruelty;  but  I  do  not  now  remember  any  special  act.  I  was  there  when  Chiek- 
amauga  was  killed. 

Q.  Am  I  to  understand  you  from  your  answer  to  counsel  that  you  did  not 
hear  of  certain  things,  that  those  things  did  not  occur? 

A.     No,  sir;  not  by  any  means. 

Q.  Am  I  to  understand  that  the  cruelty  and  brutality  of  this  prisoner  was  not 
a  matter  of  common  talk  and  discussion  among  the  prisoners  at  Andersonville  ? 

A.  No,  sir.  On  the  other  hand  it  was  true.  We  all  understood  him  to  be 
a  cruel,  overbearing,  heartless  man.i 

Antonio  Manoni,  a  private  in  the  7th  Connecticut  Volunteers,  was 
called  for  the  defense,  but  in  the  absence  of  an  interpreter  his  exam 
ination  was  postponed  and  he  was  not  again  called. 

It  will  be  seen  in  subsequent  pages  that  some  of  the  acts  of  personal 
cruelty  charged  to  Wirz  were  committed  in  the  months  of  August  and 
September,  1864.  Witnesses  were  called  by  the  defense  to  prove  that 

xThis  was  the  prisoner's  witness.  Is  it  hard  to  believe  that  a  "cruel,  overbearing,  heartless 
man"  might  be  guilty  of  acts  testified  to? 


224  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

Wirz  was  sick  during  these  months.  Some  of  the  witnesses  testified 
that  he  was  sick  and  unable  to  perform  duty  during  all  of  August; 
others  fixed  the  time  as  during  September ;  still  others  for  only  a  part 
of  one  or  other  of  these  months.  The  evidence  upon  the  question  is 
too  indefinite  and  based  as  it  is  wholly  upon  memory  of  dates  but  little 
reliance  could  be  placed  upon  it  as  showing  more  than  that  Wirz  was 
sick  on  occasional  days  but  not  so  as  to  remove  him  from  immediate 
responsibility  for  his  charge.  Official  documents  signed  by  him  at 
different  times  in  August  and  September  show  that  witnesses  who 
testified  to  his  being  absent  sick  for  the  whole  of  either  month  or  both 
months  were  mistaken.  He  was  on  active  duty  when  Colonel  Chandler 
was  there  inspecting  the  prison  in  August.  Dr.  Jones  visited  the 
camp  in  the  early  part  of  September,  about  the  7th  he  testified,  and 
spent  three  weeks  in  his  examination  of  first,  the  hospital  outside  the 
stockade,  and  later,  the  stockade  itself.  He  gives  in  his  report  an  order 
dated  September  17,  1864,  directing  Captain  Wirz  to  permit  Surgeon 
Jones  to  visit  the  stockade.  He  testified  that  he  had  previously  ap 
plied  to  Captain  Wirz  for  permission  to  enter  the  stockade  and  was 
refused  for  reasons  not  given,  and  he  then  applied  to  General  Winder 
and  his  adjutant  gave  the  order.  There  are  other  incontestable  proofs 
of  Wirz's  presence  in  both  months,  and  any  absence  from  sickness  was 
not  from  the  post  or  from  his  duties  except  temporarily.  It  would 
seem  unnecessary  to  give  the  evidence  of  witnesses  tending  to  show 
his  absence  during  these  two  months  in  the  face  of  record  and  indis 
putable  evidence  to  the  contrary.  Some  such  testimony,  however,  is 
quoted  in  the  course  of  the  answers  of  witnesses. 

TESTIMONY  OF  AUGUSTUS  MOESNER.1 

I  have  been  a  member  of  Company  G,  16th  Connecticut  Volunteers.  I  was 
captured  April  20,  1864,  and  taken  to  Andersonville.  I  arrived  there  on  the  3d 
of  May,  in  the  evening.  I  remained  in  the  stockade  up  to  the  24th  of  May,  1864. 
I  was  taken  as  a  paroled  prisoner  to  Captain  Wirz's  office  as  a  clerk. 

When  I  was  first  taken  out  I  was  not  well  acquainted  yet  with  the  English 
language,  and  I  only  made  some  copies,  and  also  wrote  in  the  roll-book.  Among 
other  duties  I  had  to  carry  orders  down  to  the  stockade,  and  to  carry  returns 
and  morning  reports  to  General  Winder's  headquarters,  and  I  also  had  to  go  to  the 
commissary  with  returns. 

Q.  Did  you  have  anything  to  do  with  requisitions  on  the  commissary  and 
quartermaster?  If  you  did,  state  all  about  it. 

A.  Those  requisitions  and  returns,  I  think,  were  made  out  every  day,  and 
they  stated  the  number  of  prisoners  inside  the  stockade;  and  there  was  also 

1  Record,  p.  536  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  225 

another  requisition  for  those  men  who  were  detailed  and  men  outside  at  work  as 
paroled  men,  because  they  all  got  a  second  ration. 

Q.     Do  you  mean  a  double  ration? 

A.     Yes,  sir;   double  rations. 

Q.     How  were  the  requisitions  made  out  as  to  quantity? 

A.  They  stated  the  number  of  men  present,  but  the  quantity  of  the  rations 
was  left  in  blank. 

Q.     Who  would  fill  it  up?     How  would  the  commissary  know  how  to  fill  it? 

A.  He  saw  how  many  men  were  there,  and  as  many  men  as  he  had  in  the 
requisition,  so  many  rations  he  had  to  provide. 

Q.     He  would  make  it  out  from  his  own  will,  or  from  information  in  his  office  f 

A.  He  would  do  so.  Captain  Wirz  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  It  was  left 
entirely  to  him. 

Q.     What,  if  anything,  had  you  to  do  in  relation  to  the  cook-house? 

A.  There  was,  every  morning,  a  list  made  out,  and  on  this  list  was  put  the 
number  of  the  squads,  and  the  number  of  the  detachment,  and  of  each  detachment, 
how  many  rations  the  detachment  had  to  get;  because  there  were  many  squads 
which  had  not  ninety  men.  There  was  not  one  squad  which  had  ninety  men  in 
line;  many  were  detailed  out,  and  many  in  the  hospital,  and  their  rations  had  to  be 
taken  out;  and  so  in  those  lists  we  stated  how  many  rations  every  detachment  had 
to  get  from  the  cook-house.  I  brought  that  list  down  to  Mr.  Duncan.  I  left  it 
there  and  went  back  to  my  quarters.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  the  rations 
after  that,  or  anything  that  came  from  the  cook-house.  I  had  nothing  to  do  with 
that.  Captain  Wirz  had  nothing  to  do  with  that.  As  soon  as  Duncan  knew  how 
many  rations  he  had  to  give  out,  when  the  rations  were  cooked,  he  would  bring 
them  down  to  the  stockade;  that  was  his  duty.  The  requisitions  for  the  hospital 
were  made  by  Dr.  White.  We  had  nothing  to  do  in  our  office  with  the  hospital. 
I  do  not  know  that  any  requisitions  for  anything  for  it  were  made  out  in  our 
office  or  signed  by  Captain  Wirz. 

Q.  What  did  you  have  as  rations  while  you  were  outside,  and  in  what  quantity, 
and  what  did  you  do  with  them? 

A.  The  first  time  I  was  outside  there  as  a  clerk;  I  went  every  day  once  to 
the  cook-house  and  got  my  rations  there.  I  got  a  piece  of  corn  bread  and  a  piece 
of  bacon.  I  could  have  gotten  some  rice  or  some  beef,  but  I  did  not  take  them. 

Q.  Did  you  have  any  sanitary  goods,  or  did  you  eat  anything  belonging  to 
Union  prisoners  out  there? 

A.  I  never  had  any,  because  there  were  never  any  provisions  sent  by  the  Sani 
tary  Commission.  I  had  an  extra  ration.  We  got  money  for  it.  We  sold  it  to 
Captain  Wirz.  He  paid  us  eighty  cents  a  day,  Confederate  money.  He  never 
took  any  away  without  paying  us.  I  was  paid  every  month.1 

I  do  not  recollect  that  the  rations  were  ever  stopped  for  the  whole  camp.  The 
rations  were  sometimes  stopped  for  a  squad  when  the  sergeant  of  the  squad — 
Federal  sergeant — reported  a  man  missing  in  the  line.  They  were  stopped  that 
the  men  of  the  squad  should  go  and  hunt  up  and  look  for  the  man,  to  find  him; 
perhaps  he  might  be  in  another  part  of  the  stockade,  sick  somewhere  else,  and 

1  Conceding  that  Wirz  had  nothing  to  do  with  issuing  rations  (which  is  contrary  to  other 
evidence),  it  was  his  duty  to  see  that  it  was  properly  done. 


226  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

if  he  was  not  found  he  could  not  be  treated,  as  they  could  not  send  a  doctor  to 
him;  but  afterwards  if  the  man  was  found,  or  if  the  Federal  sergeant  reported 
the  man  as  escaped,  it  was  altered,  and  the  squad  could  get  their  list.  I  know  that 
I  wrote  down  the  lists  for  rations  and  I  had  to  remark  it  if  a  squad  were  deprived 
of  its  rations,  because  it  was  left  in  blank,  and  I  know  that  very  often  or  some 
times,  when  the  missing  man  was  found  it  was  altered  and  sent  down  to  the 
cook-house  to  Mr.  Duncan,  who  was  told  to  give  that  squad  rations,  because  the 
Federal  sergeant  could  answer  for  the  missing  man  and  say  that  he  was  sick  or 
was  escaped.  As  soon  as  the  Federal  sergeant  could  give  an  answer  for  the  man  it 
was  altered  and  the  squad  got  their  rations.  It  was  done  by  Captain  Wirz's 
orders.1 

Q.  Did  you  have  any  orders  to  keep  them  all  day,  or  could  you  as  soon  as 
the  missing  man  was  found  have  the  rations  sent  to  them? 

A.  If  Captain  Wirz  would  not  have  been  there  in  his  office  the  sergeant  would 
have  come  back  and  reported  those  missing  men  as  found,  and  we  had  power 
ourselves — we  clerks — to  send  down  to  Mr.  Duncan  and  tell  him  to  give  those 
squads  their  rations. 

Q.  Do  you  say  that  Captain  Wirz  never  interfered  with  the  quantity  or  qual 
ity  of  the  rations  issued  to  prisoners? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  he  did  interfere.  He  stopped  the  rations.  He  did  not  stop  them 
very  frequently.  He  stopped  them  for  separate  squads.  By  squads  I  mean 
divisions  of  nineties.  When  a  man  was  reported  missing  on  roll-call  he  would 
stop  the  rations.  He  would  stop  them  for  the  ninety,  if  one  man  was  missing, 
until  the  sergeant  of  the  squad  could  give  an  answer  for  the  man — until  he  could 
report  him  in  some  way.  He  had  the  power  to  stop  the  rations.  He  had  the 
power  to  direct  that  rations  should  be  issued  to  the  men;  and  he  had  the  power 
to  stop  them,  and  he  exercised  the  power  both  ways.  Lieutenant  Davis,  at  Captain 
Wirz's  headquarters,  had  the  same  authority.  There  was  not  any  one  else.  I 
know  of  nobody  else  except  General  Winder. 

Q.     Yet  you  stated  to  this  court  that  the  clerks  had  the  power? 

A.     Not  in  this  way;  we  had  the  power  when  Catpain  Wirz  was  not  there.2 

TESTIMONY  OF  MARTIN  S.  HARRIS.3 

I  was  a  soldier  in  the  5th  Regiment,  New  York  Volunteer  Artillery,  from 
January  15,  1862,  till  I  was  discharged,  in  last  June.  I  was  confined  in  the 
stockade  from  July  29,  1864,  until  November  1,  1864.  I  was  sergeant  of  a  ninety 
in  the  stockade.  I  was  a  private  in  the  army.  I  was  appointed  a  sergeant  by 
Captain  Wirz  before  I  went  in,  at  the  solicitation  of  the  men  of  my  own  squad. 
The  water  of  the  creek  was  not  fit  either  for  cooking  or  drinking  purposes.  There 
were  a  number  of  wells  which  had  been  dug  by  members  of  detachments,  and 
which  were  reserved  by  them  for  their  own  private  use;  no  outsider,  except  as  a 
matter  of  special  favor,  could  obtain  any  water  from  them.  The  springs  were 
abundant,  especially  on  the  south  side  of  the  creek.  In  September,  I  think — at 

1  Other  witnesses  called  in  defense  testified  that  rations  were  stopped  for  the  whole  prison 
camp. 

2  This  shows  that  Wirz  had  full  power  over  the  subject  of  rations. 
8  Record,  p.  588  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  227 

any  rate  it  was  during  August  or  September — there  was  a  spring  discovered  be 
tween  the  dead-line  and  the  stockade,  near  the  north  gate.  The  men  very  soon 
ascertained  that  it  was  water  superior  to  any  other  in  the  stockade;  and  they 
went  there,  with  poles  with  a  cup  or  bucket  attached,  to  dip  it  up.  This  spring 
was  afterwards  cleared  out  under  the  supervision  of  the  police,  and  a  trough  was 
constructed  from  the  spring  leading  to  a  point  inside  the  dead-line  on  the  prison 
side  of  it.i 

There  was  abundance  of  fuel,  both  for  cooking  and  heating  purposes.  2  Salt 
was  a  luxury  in  the  stockade.s  I  speak  of  my  own  positive  knowledge  when  I 
say  that  salt  was  sold  by  the  bakers  at  the  bake-house  to  the  traders  inside  the 
stockade  in  quantities  to  suit  purchasers,  and  it  was  tied  up  in  bags,  and  thrown 
over  the  stockade  at  night.  The  scarcity  of  salt  affected  our  rations  to  this 
extent,  that  we  had  no  salt  at  all  in  our  bread  for  a  long  time;  that  is,  no  quan 
tity  which  was  appreciable;  we  could  not  taste  it.  Salt  was  conveyed  into  the 
stockade  in  the  manner  I  have  described,  and  was  purchased  by  these  traders  and 
by  them  exposed  for  sale.  .  .  . 

Q.  Did  you  ever  at  any  time  while  you  were  at  Andersonville  complain  to  any 
one  of  your  comrades  with  regard  to  the  fearful  mortality — the  great  suffering, 
destitution  and  sickness  among  the  prisoners  in  the  stockade? 

A.  Yes,  sir;  it  was  a  frequent  subject  of  conversation;  in  fact  the  only  sub 
ject  of  conversation  we  had  was  that,  and  anticipating  the  time  when  we  would 
be  released. 

Q.  And  yet  when  you  came  home,  among  the  first  things  you  found  it  necessary 
to  do  was  to  enter  into  a  defense  of  Captain  Wirz? 

A.  What  I  wrote  was  this:  not  denying  the  horrors  of  Andersonville,  but 
ascribing  them  to  what,  in  my  opinion,  was  the  proper  cause.  I  never  denied 
them. 

Q.  You  do  not  to-day  deny  any  of  the  horrors  that  have  been  depicted  at 
Andersonville? 

A.     Not  a  particle. 

Q.  The  only  question  you  gave  any  opinion  on  was  with  regard  to  the 
responsibility  of  the  parties,  and  that  you  state  now  as  positively  as  you  do  any 
thing? 

A.     Yes,  sir. 

Q.  You  state  that  you  have  not  anything  to  diminish  with  regard  to  the  horrors 
of  Andersonville  as  depicted  by  your  comrades  here? 

A.     Nothing  at  all  regarding  the  facts. 

Q.     Nothing  excepting  on  the  question  of  responsibility? 

A.     Yes,  sir.* 

By  the  PRESIDENT: 

Q.     On  whom,  in  your  opinion,  is  the  responsibility? 

A.  In  my  opinion  General  Winder  was  responsible,  and  also  the  prisoners 
themselves,  by  their  conduct  toward  each  other;  the  prisoners  were  responsible 

1  This  is  the  point  where  several  prisoners  were  shot  in  reaching  for  water. 

2  This  statement  is  in  conflict  with  the  testimony  of  nearly  all  the  witnesses. 
8  If  there  was  salt  for  sale,  why  was  it  not  furnished  to  the  prisoners? 

4  This  man  received  favors  at  the  hands  of  Wirz.  A  sense  of  gratitude  may  have  made  him 
an  over-zealous  witness. 


"228  THE    TRAGEDY    OF    ANDEESONVILLE. 

themselves  in  a  great  many  cases  for  their  horrible  sufferings  there.  I  never 
did  in  any  instance  treat  any  of  my  comrades  or  any  of  the  sufferers  in  the 
stockade  improperly;  I  treated  them  with  as  much  kindness  as  lay  in  my  nature. 
I  suppose  I  am  about  the  average  as  a  kind  man.  I  made  a  remark  to  different 
parties  after  I  was  exchanged,  that  I  lived  first-rate  while  I  was  with  the  rebel 
officers  and  had  plenty  to  eat  and  plenty  to  drink.  I  made  that  remark  at  home 
in  Brooklyn.  People  asked  me  how  I  fared  down  South,  and  I  told  them  how  I 
fared  at  Andersonville  and  how  at  Millen;  and  that  was  the  idea  I  conveyed. 
Six  prisoners  comprised  the  whole  force  at  Camp  Lawton  last  winter.  My  ex 
perience  South  was  diversified. 

Q.  I  want  to  know  whether  you  ever  at  any  time  remarked  in  the  presence  of 
any  persons  that  while  you  were  a  prisoner  in  the  South  you  had  plenty  to  eat  and 
plenty  to  drink? 

A.     I  remarked  that  during  a  portion  of  my  imprisonment  I  did  live  well. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  make  that  remark  to  anybody  with  regard  to  your  living  at 
Andersonville? 

A.     No,  sir ;    I  could  not  do  it ;    it  was  not  the  fact. 

Q.  Were  cooked  rations  sometimes  issued  to  the  sick  that  were  not  fit  for  them 
to  eat? 

A.     That  was  merely  a  matter  of  taste. 

Q.  Then  those  men  who  died  preferred  to  die  as  a  matter  of  taste  to  eating 
those  rations? 

A.     The  sick,  those  who  had  sore  mouths,  could  not  eat  the  corn  bread  and 

Q.     What  made  their  mouths  sore? 

A.     Scurvy. 

Q.     And  they  preferred  to  die  as  a  matter  of  taste? 

A.     They  preferred  to  abstain  from  that  part  of  the  ration  altogether. 

Q.  You  use  the  word  "abstain"  as  you  preferred  to  use  the  term  "delayed" 
instead  of  "stopped"  in  regard  to  the  rations? 

A.  It  is  hardly  a  parallel  case;  they  abstained  from  the  food  because  it  only 
aggravated  their  disease.  The  result  of  their  abstaining  from  food  was  that 
they  became  greatly  emaciated,  and  in  a  great  many  cases  death  ensued;  death 
resulted  from  their  abstinence  from  food,  from  the  nature  of  their  food,  not  from 
starvation  arising  from  the  lack  of  food.  I  said  salt  was  thrown  over  the  stock 
ade  in  quantities  to  suit  purchasers.  At  the  time  the  salt  was  thrown  over  the 
stockade,  the  number  of  prisoners  was  estimated  at  33,000;  salt  was  a  luxury 
at  Andersonville;  I  consider  anything  a  luxury  which  is  very  scarce;  salt  was 
very  scarce  at  Andersonville;  it  could  only  be  obtained  by  purchase;  all  those 
who  could  afford  it  purchased  salt;  I  cannot  tell  how  many  could  afford  it; 
there  was  a  great  many  in  the  stockade  who  could  afford  it,  a  great  many  who 
had  money;  I  suppose  about  one-third  of  the  prisoners  had  money.  Each  one 
would  purchase  according  to  his  ability;  men  who  possessed  money  could  pur 
chase  enough  for  daily  consumption;  each  would  consume  a  spoonful  perhaps; 
those  who  had  money  had  to  be  economical;  a  spoonful  of  salt  would  be  sufficient 
for  each  purchaser;  that  was  the  daily  purchase;  there  were  more  than  ten 
thousand  spoonfuls  of  salt  thrown  over  the  stockade  daily;  I  say  that  I  have 
seen  salt  thrown  over  the  stockade  daily;  I  pretend  to  know  of  my  own  knowl- 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  229 

edge  about  this  traffic;  I  know  about  this  because  I  have  been  occasionally  walk 
ing  in  the  evenings  down  on  the  west  side  of  the  stockade,  and  I  have  seen  this 
traffic  going  on;  I  presume  it  was  going  on  all  the  time;  I  do  not  know  except 
from  what  I  have  seen  occasionally;  I  know  where  the  salt  came  from,  it  came 
from  the  bake-house. 

Q.  You  say  that  when  the  sergeant  came  in  there,  at  the  time  the  sick  and 
others  were  removed,  about  the  31st  of  October,  they  informed  the  sick  that  they 
might  remain,  if  they  desired  to  do  so,  and  they  did  remain? 

A.     They  did  remain. 

Q.     Preferring  to  stay  in  the  Andersonville  stockade  to  being  exchanged? 

A.     Yes,  sir. 

Q.  You  state  it  as  a  fact  that  the  Andersonville  stockade  was  regarded  by 
them  as  preferable  to  an  exchange? 

A.  Preferable  to  another  stockade  unknown  to  them.  Andersonville  at  that 
time  was  comfortable  comparatively  to  what  it  had  been.  This  was  after  the 
stockade  was  cleared  out;  some  of  the  prisoners  stayed,  preferring  that  stockade 
to  one  that  they  knew  nothing  of;  some  were  unable  to  be  removed,  but  some  to 
my  own  certain  knowledge  preferred  to  remain  there — some  of  my  own  detach 
ment  ;  they  preferred  to  bear  the  ills  they  had ;  Andersonville  was  preferable 
in  their  view  to  an  exchange  of  stockade;  I  do  not  mean  to  convey  the  idea 
that  Andersonville  in  their  opinion  was  preferable  to  coming  home  here  in 
the  North;  the  idea  those  men  had  was  that  they  would  rather  stay  there  than 
go  to  another  stockade,  of  the  horrors  of  which  they  knew  nothing. 

TESTIMONY  OF  EDWARD  WELLINGTON  BOATE.1 

I  was  in  the  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  42d  New  York  Volunteers. 
I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  from  February  24,  1864,  till  August  7,  1864; 
I  was  taken  prisoner  October  14,  1863.  I  was  first  taken  to  Belle  Island. 

The  fare  at  Andersonville  was  about  three  times  the  quantity,  both  in  meat  and 
meal,  that  it  was  at  Belle  Island;  in  other  respects  it  was  better — better  at 
Andersonville  than  Belle  Island.  I  had  meat  at  Belle  Island  the  last  month  before 
I  left  twice,  with  an  interval  of  a  fortnight  between  the  two  times.  At  Belle 
Island  we  got  quarter  rations — a  quarter  of  a  loaf  of  bread,  with  a  small  bit  of 
meat  about  that  size,  [about  five  inches  by  three]. 

My  first  rations  at  Andersonville  were  about  a  pound  of  beef,  salt  and  fresh 
and  two  sanitary  cups  of  meal;  no  coffee.  We  got  beans  at  the  same  time.  We 
got  sweet  potatoes  the  day  of  our  arrival.  The  rations  diminished.  Instead 
of  two  sanitary  cups  of  meal,  we  received  sometimes  a  cup  and  a  half.  The 
rations  got  smaller  as  the  prisoners  increased.  I  arrived  there  at  night,  and  the 
next  morning  Sergeant  Duncan  gave  to  each  squad  about  six  skillets,  so  far  as 
I  remember,  for  cooking  our  rations,  stating  that  as  soon  as  the  cook-house  and 
bakery  were  completed,  we  would  receive  cooked  rations.  The  cook-house  at 
that  time  was  in  course  of  completion.  I  think  it  must  have  been  in  the  month 
of  April  that  I  got  cooked  rations.  Our  own  men  did  the  cooking  at  the  bake 
house.  The  bread  cooked  there  was  bad;  it  was  burned  on  the  outside,  and 
raw  on  the  inside;  this  was  not  always  the  case,  but  generally  it  was;  it  was 

1  Record,  p.  687  et  seq. 


230  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

badly  baked.  The  prisoners  sometimes  ate  the  rations,  and. sometimes  they  could 
not  eat  them  and  threw  them  away;  I  speak  now  with  regard  to  the  bread. 

Q.  Do  you  know  anything  about  efforts  to  get  prisoners  to  enlarge  the  stock 
ade,  and  what  was  said  and  done  on  that  occasion? 

A.     I  remember  Captain  Wirz  having  a  number  of  men  brought  out — 

I  was  then  detailed  to  go  out  with  them;  I  did  not  go  out  with  them.  I  was 
in  Dr.  White's  department  at  the  time.  A  number  of  prisoners  came  before 
Captain  Wirz;  he  had  sent  for  them;  he  said,  "Now,  that  stockade  below  is  too 
crowded  for  you,  and  I  have  no  labor  to  increase  the  size  of  it;  all  the  black 
labor  is  engaged  on  farms,  and  I  have  hardly  enough  men,  in  fact,  to  guard  you; 
I  ask  you  to  come  out;  I  will  give  you  axes;  come  out  and  increase  the  stockade 
to  any  extent  that  is  necessary  for  you." 

The  reply  was,  "Captain  Wirz,  we  do  not  want  to  come  out  to  work,  for  we 
have  been  told  by  recent  prisoners  who  have  arrived  in  the  stockade,  that  if  we 
go  to  work  for  rebels  our  pay  will  be  stopped,  and  we  will  be  tried  and  probably 
sent  to  the  Dry  Tortugas." 

[To  the  Court:]  I  heard  this  conversation  myself.  Captain  Wirz  said,  "Your 
government  are  not  such  rascals  or  such  fools  as  to  blame  or  punish  you  if  I 
can  give  you  ten  feet  of  room  instead  of  four,  if  you  come  out  and  work  for  it."1 

There  was  an  average  of  a  barrel  of  whiskey  a  day  sent  to  the  hospital  and 
stockade  for  the  prisoners.  Eggs  were  sent  to  the  hospital,  not  the  stockade. 
Tea,  sugar,  and  matters  of  that  kind  were  sent  to  the  hospital  daily.2  I  know 
that  eggs  were  selling  at  Andersonville  around  there  at  $3.50  per  dozen.  I  will 
not  speak  in  regard  to  the  eggs,  but  I  will  speak  in  regard  to  the  vegetables. 
Dr.  White,  not  Captain  Wirz,  gave  the  order,  "Bring  all  you  can  find  of  these 
things  and  I  will  pay  you  any  price."  They  came  in  very  limited  quantities, 
but  I  heard  Captain  Wirz  offer  to  pay  any  price  that  they  demanded,  and  tell 
them  to  bring  him  all  the  articles  of  that  character  that  they  could  find  round 
the  country. 

I  know  that  there  was  a  very  bad  smell  through  the  camp.  I  would  not  offer 
an  opinion  advisedly  upon  it.  I  have  expressed  an  opinion  in  reference  to  that 
swamp  that  it  was  unhealthy.  I  said  it  was  "filled  with  untold  impurities."  That 
was  true. 

I  said  that  the  food  there  was  "unfit  for  human  beings."  That  was  true  at 
the  time  I  was  referring  to.  At  the  time  I  understood  so  from  my  companions 
who  came  out  of  the  stockade  and  who  joined  me  in  the  commission  referred  to 
here.  They  told  me  that  the  food  was  bad,  not  fit  for  human  beings.  I  know 
myself  that  the  bread  baked  there  was  unfit  for  human  beings.  That  is  so. 
That  was  my  opinion  and  I  repeat  it. 

I  have  said  that  that  stockade  was  "without  shelter  of  any  kind."  Using  the 
phrase  "from  the  fierce  tropical  sun  and  the  heavy  rains."  That  is  partially 
true.  There  were  several  hundreds  in  that  stockade  without  shelter.  I  used  the 
expression  that  their  clothes  were  "miserable"  and  "insufficient  even  for  the  pur 
poses  of  common  decency."  That  was  true. 

1  The  testimony  is  that  the  prisoners  helped  to  enlarge  the  stockade. 

2  The  surgeons  at  the  hospital  testified  that  there    were    not    stimulants    enough    for    cases 
under  the  knife.     Dr.  Bates  testified  that  the  cry  of  the  patients  was  for  food. 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  231 

Q.  Did  you  ever  make  use  of  the  expression  "the  confinement  of  35,000  human 
beings  within  an  area  of  some  17  acres,  with  a  pestilential  swamp  running 
through  the  camp"? 

A.  That  should  be  27  acres.  I  wrote  it  so  in  figures,  and  the  printer  made 
the  mistake.  With  that  change  it  is  true.  I  wrote  this  expression:  "Our  sick 
when  removed  to  hospital  being  utterly  devoid  of  any  sort  of  accommodation, 
and  often  three  weeks  at  a  time  without  a  particle  of  medicine."  That  is  not 
fully  true.  There  is  a  slight  exaggeration  in  it.  They  were  not  three  weeks 
altogether  at  a  time  without  medicine;  but  they  might  be  a  week.  With  that 
change  it  is  true.  I  used  this  expression,  "the  despair,  the  mental  imbecility, 
the  madness  which  have  been  the  result  to  so  many  of  those  unhappy  prisoners." 
It  is  literally  true.  I  lost  my  health  at  Andersonville.  My  eyesight  was  im 
paired.  I  did  not  lose  it  at  Andersonville;  I  lost  it  at  Belle  Island,  from  the 
suffering  endured  there  lying  out  without  shelter. 

Q.     Was  it  contributed  to  at  Andersonville? 

A.     Yes,  it  was  not  benefited. 

Question  repeated. 

A.  Yes.  When  I  arrived  at  New  York  I  had  an  attack  of  my  lungs,  I  pre 
sume  arising  from  my  confinement  in  the  South.  I  made  that  statement  believing 
it  to  be  true.  In  speaking  of  my  sight  being  impaired,  I  made  use  of  the  ex 
pression  "only  one  degree  removed  from  total  blindness";  at  a  certain  time  my 
sight  was  so  bad  that  that  was  true. 

Q.  Did  you  use  this  expression  in  regard  to  it:  "all  the  result  of  eleven  long 
weary  months  spent  in  the  bull  pens  of  the  Southern  Confederacy?" 

A.     I  referred  to  that. 

[Mr.  Baker  claimed  that  the  whole  sentence  on  which  the  witness  was  being 
questioned  should  be  read  to  him.] 

WITNESS.  I  admit  the  whole  document.  I  admit  that  I  wrote  that  letter. 
Every  line  of  it  is  true  with  the  exceptions  I  have  named. 

TESTIMONY  OF  BENJAMIN  F.  DILLY.1 

I  reside  in  Allentown,  Pennsylvania.  I  was  in  the  service  of  the  United  States 
for  three  years  and  seven  months,  in  Company  F,  54th  Pennsylvania.  I  was 
taken  prisoner  on  the  2d  of  February,  1864;  I  was  carried  to  Belle  Island, 
Richmond.  I  remained  there  until  the  16th  of  March,  1864;  I  was  then  taken 
to  Andersonville;  I  was  there  one  year.  I  went  there  on  the  23d  of  March,  1864, 
and  came  away  on  the  23d  of  March,  1865.  I  was  in  the  stockade  at  Anderson 
ville  for  three  weeks.  I  was  allowed  to  go  in  and  out  of  the  stockade  until 
August.  I  was  detailed  as  a  clerk  at  the  headquarters  of  Captain  Wirz;  I  was 
admitting  clerk.  ...  I  was  connected  with  the  hospital  department  from  the 
latter  part  of  August  till  the  23d  of  March,  1865. 

Every  man  traded  who  had  means.  Hams,  fresh  pork,  bacon,  flour,  meal, 
peanuts,  sweet  potatoes,  white  potatoes,  thread  and  needles,  cigars,  tobacco,  and 
anything  of  that  kind  were  traded  in.  That  was  going  on  both  inside  and  out 
side.  Articles  were  bought  outside  and  taken  into  the  stockade.  I  know  about 
trading  over  the  stockade  between  prisoners  and  rebels;  prisoners  would  walk 

1  Record,  p.  672  et  seq. 


232  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

up  to  the  dead-line  and  ask  some  of  the  guards  if  he  had  anything  to  trade;  if 
he  had  he  would  show  it,  and  the  prisoner  would  throw  up  the  money  on  the 
end  of  a  string  and  the  guard  would  let  down  the  article. 

There  were  a  number  of  small  wells  inside  the  stockade  while  I  was  there — 
there  were  no  large  ones  while  I  was  in  the  stockade.  I  suppose  there  were  75 
or  100  on  the  south  side.  The  number  increased,  but  the  men  who  owned  the 
wells  would  not  allow  their  comrades  to  drink  from  them.  Very  good  water  was 
in  the  wells,  better  water  than  we  had  outside.  That  water  would  not  supply 
more  than  one-fifth  the  wants  of  the  stockade,  I  suppose.  .  .  .  The  creek  water 
when  I  was  inside  the  stockade  was  very  bad,  excepting  some  portions  of  it — 
the  upper  end  of  it,  and  even  there  the  water  was  bad ;  the  water  was  good  enough 
except  for  the  grease  on  it  that  came  from  the  cook-house. 

Captain  Wirz  made  an  effort  to  impress  500  slaves  to  enlarge  the  stockade. 
He  could  not  get  the  slaves,  and  he  sent  to  Eichmond  for  orders  in  regard  to  it; 
he  also  sent  into  the  stockade  for  men — the  men  refused  to  come  out.  The  excuse 
was  that  they  would  compromise  themselves  in  the  eyes  of  their  government. 
The  sick  men  could  not  do  it,  and  the  well  men  refused  to  do  it;  at  last  they 
got  some  men  out — some  150.  I  understood  that  Captain  Wirz's  orders  were 
to  place  the  men  three  deep  if  they  did  not  come  out.  He  placed  so  many  men 
in  the  stockade  that  they  were  forced  to  come  out  at  last. 

Captain  Wirz  said  that  that  rice  and  corn  meal  were  not  fit  for  niggers;  that 
he  would  not  feed  his  slaves  on  them,  and  that  the  man  who  sent  that  corn  meal 
to  Andersonville  should  be  court-martialed — that  he  was  robbing  the  Confeder 
ate  government.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  the  conduct  of  cooks  in  the 
cook-house  in  reference  to  rations,  more  than  that  they  traded  the  rations  off  to 
the  slaves  for  vegetables.  Captain  Wirz's  detectives  found  fifteen  bags  of  hama 
and  bacon  in  the  woods.  The  slaves  were  men  whom  I  saw  working  around  on 
the  fortifications.  There  were  some  500  slaves  working  on  the  fortifications  at 
Andersonville. 

I  saw  suffering  inside  the  stockade  certainly;  they  all  suffered  more  or  less. 
They  could  not  eat  the  food;  it  was  not  fit  to  eat.  It  would  be  hard  for  any 
man  to  eat  the  corn  bread  they  had  there.  There  were  plenty  of  sick  men  in 
there.  I  saw  plenty  of  men  dying  in  there.  I  never  saw  anybody  naked  in 
there,  although  their  clothes  were  good  for  nothing — nothing  but  rags.  I  saw 
men  there  without  hats,  without  shoes,  and  without  pants;  but  I  have  never  seen 
them  without  all  these  things  at  one  time.  I  have  seen  men  without  pants. 

August  Gleich  was  called  for  the  defense.  He  belonged  to  the  8th 
Pennsylvania  Cavalry;  was  at  Andersonville  from  March  until  No 
vember,  1864.  He  entered  the  stockade  March  10th  and  was  paroled 
and  went  to  work  for  Wirz  April  8th.  He  testified  that  Wirz  was 
absent  sick  the  whole  of  August  and  this  was  the  principal  fact 
brought  out  by  him.  He  also  testified  that  he  "never  heard  that  Cap 
tain  Wirz  shot  or  injured  a  man  so  that  he  died.  I  heard  it  spoken 
of  while  I  was  at  Andersonville.  All  I  can  tell  is  that  he  would  curse 
a  man  for  nothing  at  all  hardly;  that  is  about  all  he  would  do."1 

1  Record,  pp.  585,  587. 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  233 

TESTIMONY    OF   FREDERICK   GUSCETTI. 

Frederick  Guscetti  was  called  for  the  defense.  He  belonged  to  the 
47th  New  York  Regiment  and  arrived  at  Andersonville  March  28, 
1864,  and  remained  there  until  August,  when  he  was  paroled  for  work 
outside.  He  tells  of  a  desperate  attempt  made  to  escape  which  pre 
sumably  was  brought  out  to  show  the  kindness  of  Wirz  in  overlook 
ing  it.1 

I  attempted  to  escape  once  on  the  4th  of  July;  they  did  not  give  us  anything 
to  eat,  and  in  the  evening  I  told  some  of  my  friends  to  tie  me  up  in  a  blanket 
and  I  would  go  out  as  a  dead  man;  they  put  me  in  a  blanket,  put  a  cloth  over 
my  face  and  carried  me  into  the  hospital;  in  the  hospital  they  put  No.  61  on 
my  breast;  they  put  me  into  the  dead-house  and  kept  me  there  until  the  last 
wagon  came  that  night;  they  then  took  me  away  during  the  night;  I  knew 
that  the  orders  were  to  carry  away  twenty-five  bodies  at  a  time,  I  counted  so 
many  dead  and  placed  myself  so  as  to  be  about  the  twenty-fourth  or  twenty- 
fifth;  the  next  morning  the  men  came  in  to  carry  away  the  dead;  they  counted 
out  twenty-four  and  then  it  came  to  my  turn;  a  negro,  named  "Abe,"  lifted  me 
up  and  threw  me  on  the  wagon — a  canvas-covered  wagon  like  a  tent — to  go  to 
the  dead-house;  when  I  was  carried  to  the  dead-house  the  negroes  took  my 
clothes  off,  so  that  I  had  nothing  on  but  a  pair  of  drawers,  and  I  had  no 
chance  to  get  away;  they  carried  me  out  in  a  wagon  too  near  the  kitchen;  I  had 
not  eaten  the  whole  day  before,  and  did  not  feel  strong  enough  to  go  away;  I 
slipped  down  from  the  wagon  with  the  intention  of  waiting  until  night,  and 
then  going  to  some  farmers  near  by  and  getting  clothes  somehow;  I  was  lying 
down  when  about  ten  o'clock  I  saw  Turner  with  the  dogs  run  around  the  stock 
ade;  I  was  afraid  of  him,  of  course;  I  then  saw  him  go  away;  he  was  going 
to  headquarters;  afterwards  I  saw  him  with  Captain  Wirz  on  horseback;  I  heard 
afterwards  that  their  object  was  to  discover  a  hole  which  had  been  made  the 
night  before;  in  passing  around  there  the  dogs  found  me  out  and  jumped  to 
wards  me;  I  did  not  move;  I  knew  that  they  would  not  bite  me  if  I  did  not 
run  away.  Captain  Wirz  came  up  and  said:  "What  the  hell  are  you  doing  here?" 
I  told  him  I  was  trying  to  run  away;  he  asked  me  if  I  thought  I  could  run  away 
without  any  clothes  on;  I  then  told  him  all  about  how  it  was;  he  took  me  down  to 
the  hospital  and  asked  the  steward,  or  some  one  of  the  men  in  the  hospital,  to  give 
me  some  clothes;  he  then  put  me  into  the  stockade;  he  said  that  he  had  a  mind 
to  put  a  ball  and  chain  on  me  for  it;  but  after  all  he  sent  me  back  into  the  stock 
ade.  That  was  my  first  attempt  to  run  away;  I  do  not  think  a  great  many  of 
the  prisoners  liked  to  pass  off  for  dead,  but  many  were  running  away  all  the 
time — as  often  as  they  could. 

On  the  fourth  of  July  rations  were  stopped  for  a  whole  day.  I  cannot  say 
why  they  were  stopped.  I  think  the  prisoners  would  have  died  if  the  rations  had 
been  stopped  two  or  three  days  in  succession. 

Eations  were  stopped  inside  the  stockade  on  the  4th  July.  They  were  not 
stopped  altogether  at  any  other  time;  they  were  stopped  from  some  squads.  I 

1  Record,  p.  513  et  seq. 


234  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

once  saw  that  they  did  not  bring  anything  at  all  inside;  that  was  the  4th  of 
July.  No  one  at  the  south  gate  certainly  got  anything  that  day.  On  other  days 
I  know  that  some  squads  or  messes  did  not  get  their  rations;  they  were  squads 
who  could  not  find  men  who  were  absent.  Sometimes  a  man  would  be  found 
sick  in  his  tent  who  had  not  received  any  rations  for  one  or  two  days.  The  camp 
police  often  found  men  so,  and  often  bucked  and  gagged  sergeants  for  allowing 
it.  I  have  known  some  men  to  be  without  rations  for  two  days.  On  that 
4th  of  July  I  got  nothing  to  eat;  I  ran  away  because  I  did  ont  like  the  prison; 
there  was  very  poor  eating  in  the  prison.  I  could  stand  it  myself,  because  I  was 
always  very  healthy.  Out  of  ninety-one  countrymen  of  mine  only  four  died.  We 
were  healthy  and  used  to  that  kind  of  living,  but  I  know  that  a  great  many  other 
men  died. 

Q.  Did  you  allow  yourself  to  be  put  into  the  dead-wagon,  laid  along  with 
corpses,  and  left  in  the  dead-house  all  night  for  the  purpose  of  escaping  from  a 
place  where  you  got  enough  to  eat? 

A.  Yes;  that  dead-house  was  a  horrible  place.  I  was  lying  alongside  of  dead 
bodies;  some  of  them  had  gangrene,  and  some  had  their  legs  off. 

Q.  And  you  subjected  yourself  to  all  that  suffering  merely  to  escape  from 
a  place  where  you  got  enough  to  eat? 

A.     I  told  you  that  I  did  not  have  enough  to  eat,  but  I  could  stand  it. 

It  appeared  that  the  witness  was  very  much  interested  in  behalf 
of  the  prisoner  and  this  interest  was  shown  as  tending  to  discredit 
him.  He  was  shown  a  clipping  from  a  New  York  paper  and  ad 
mitted  that  it  was  written  and  sent  by  him  for  publication. 

The  record  shows  the  following  1 

To  the  Efaitor  of  the  New  YorJc  News  : 

Captain  Henry  Wirz,  at  present  on  trial  before  a  military  commission  at  Wash 
ington,  is  a  poor  man,  having  a  wife  and  three  children  depending  on  the  charity 
of  friends  for  their  support.  He  is  entirely  without  the  means  of  defraying  those 
expenses  which  are  unavoidable  for  a  person  who  must  singly  and  alone  defend 
himself  against  the  prosecution  of  the  government.  The  sentiment  in  favor  of  a 
fair  and  perfectly  just  trial  of  any  and  all  the  state  prisoners  is  so  universal, 
that  some  of  the  personal  friends  of  Captain  Wirz  take  this  method  of  appealing 
to  all  such  as  may  feel  interested  in  knowing  that  the  accused  has  not  wanted  a 
fair  and  full  opportunity  for  presenting  the  whole  of  his  case  in  its  true  aspect 
before  the  tribunal  charged  with  deciding  his  fate.  Hence  they  ask  for  contribu 
tion  of  funds  for  that  purpose,  to  be  sent  to  the  editor  of  this  paper,  to  be  by 
him  forwarded  to  the  consul-general  of  Switzerland  at  Washington. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  countrymen  of  Captain  Wirz,  and  the  adopted  citizens 
generally,  will  feel  it  a  duty  devolving  upon  them  especially,  without  allowing 
other  considerations  to  prejudice  his  case. 

All  acquainted  with  facts  in  the  case,  and  willing  to  testify  for  Captain  Wirz, 
are  requested  to  forward  their  names  and  address  to  L.  Schade,  Esq.,  attorney  at 
law,  Washington,  D.  C.,  with  a  statement  of  what  they  can  testify  to. 

F.  GUSCETTI. 

(Western  papers  please  copy.) 

Q.     How  did  you  happen  to  take  such  extraordinary  interest  in  this  case? 

A.     I  was  always,  myself,  treated  well  by  Captain  Wirz,  and  when  I  wrote 

1  Record,  pp.  525-7. 


TESTIMONY  FOE  DEFENSE.  235 

this  article,  or  had  it  written,  I  was  in  company  with  several  other  men  who  had 
been  treated  well  by  Captain  Wirz.  They  said  they  could  not  come  here  as 
witnesses  for  him.  I  implicated  nobody  in  the  letter,  but  stated  what  I  wished 
to  see,  that  he  should  be  tried  justly. 

The  remaining  witness  of  this  class  was  George  Washington  Fecht- 
ner.  I  think  any  one  who  may  read  the  extraordinary  story  he  nar 
rated  will  conclude  that  he  should  have  been  named  Ananias  instead 
of  George  Washington.  Counsel  for  the  prisoner  would  gladly  have 
checked  this  glowing  account  of  the  modern  bazaar  and  commercial 
emporium  he  made  out  of  the  prison  pen. 

Eecalling  the  report  of  Colonel  Chandler  and  the  graphic  de 
scription  given  by  Dr.  Jones  of  this  prison  and  the  numerous  wit 
nesses  who  depicted  the  horrors  of  that  dreadful  place,  the  story  of 
Fechtner  reads  like  the  outpourings  of  a  disordered  brain.1 

TESTIMONY  OF   GEORGE  W.   FECHTNER. 

I  was  in  the  Union  army  in  September,  1862;  I  was  taken  prisoner  on  the  15th 
of  September,  1862,  by  Colonel  Jesse,  a  Confederate  colonel;  I  was  held  as  a 
spy,  having  been  identified  by  one  of  his  men  as  such;  I  was  taken  to  Knoxville, 
East  Tennessee,  and  from  there  to  Grenada,  Mississippi;  I  was  held  in  that  coun 
try  nine  months  for  trial;  finally  I  made  my  escape  but  was  recaptured  by  the 
Mississippi  home  guard,  and  taken  to  Columbus,  Mississippi,  and  from  there  I 
was  sent  to  Eichmond,  under  the  name  of  Charles  W.  Boss;  I  gave  another  name 
for  the  purpose  of  saving  my  life;  I  had  been  on  trial  as  a  spy;  I  arrived  at 
Andersonville  the  first  of  June,  1864;  none  of  my  comrades  who  were  captured 
with  me  were  punished  as  spies,  except  one  who  was  hung. 

When  I  arrived  at  Andersonville  I  was  put  in  the  stockade. 

Q.     What  did  you  do  in  the  stockade? 

A.  I  was  prison  sutler  part  of  the  time,  and  I  was  chief  of  regulators  and 
magistrate  for  the  southwest  part  of  the  camp.  My  duty  as  magistrate  was  to 
punish  men  for  stealing;  I  punished  some  by  flogging,  some  by  setting  them 
to  work,  and  some  by  sentencing  them  to  be  washed.  They  were  so  very  dirty 
that  they  had  to  be  washed  once  in  a  while,  and  it  was  a  punishment  to  them. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  I  must  object  to  this  course  of  testimony  as  immaterial 
and  irrelevant. 

MR.  BAKER.  You  will  find  that  this  witness  will  give  a  new  complexion  to 
matters  inside  the  stockade;  that  instead  of  all  the  horrors  we  have  heard  of, 
he  will  show  that  it  was  a  little  more  comfortable  and  agreeable. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.    Very  well,  I  will  not  object  to  that. 

Q.     State  what  you  did  as  a  magistrate. 

A.  In  the  southwest  part  of  the  camp  all  the  men  guilty  of  stealing  were 
brought  before  me  for  trial;  they  were  prosecuted  by  the  men  from  whom  they 
had  stolen;  they  would  steal  tin  cups,  clothing,  food  and  anything  they  could 
get  their  hands  on.  The  police  there  were  organized  for  the  defense  of  the 

1  Record,  p.  557  et  seq. 


236  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

camp;  they  were  composed  of  companies,  thirty  men  to  a  company.  (To  the 
Court.)  They  were  organized  for  the  regulation  and  defense  of  the  men  in  the 
camp;  the  system  of  robbing  men  in  the  streets  gave  rise  to  the  regulators; 
this  system  of  robbing  was  carried  on  by  a  number  of  men  who  had  banded 
themsefves  together  for  the  purpose  of  taking  by  force  that  which  was  not  their 
own,  money,  watches,  clothing,  and  anything  they  took  a  fancy  to.  The  police 
were  first  organized  by  a  number  of  men,  who  were  prominent  in  the  camp, 
going  round  and  secretly  taking  the  names  of  able-bodied  men  who  were  willing 
to  take  part  in  putting  down  the  robbers.  After  they  were  sufficiently  strong 
it  was  done  openly;  the  raiders  then  tried  to  put  down  the  regulators;  they 
styled  themselves  "the  regulators."  This  led  to  an  outbreak;  assistance  was 
called  for  from  Captain  Wirz,  which  was  furnished  immediately;  and  the  raiders 
were  taken  out;  eleven  of  them  were  tried,  six  were  hung,  and  five  sentenced 
to  wear  a  ball  and  chain.  There  were  sixteen  companies  of  police;  they  were 
organized  by  the  chief  of  police ;  a  man  named  Keese  was  the  first  chief ;  he  was 
appointed  by  the  regulators  themselves;  the  regulators  elected  their  own  cap 
tains,  and  these  captains  elected  the  chief;  complaints  were  made  daily  concern 
ing  robberies;  I  would  dispose  of  them  to  the  best  of  my  ability.  For  stealing 
a  tin  cup,  if  the  man  was  healthy,  he  was  flogged;  if  he  was  not  healthy  he 
was  made  to  sit  in  a  tent  all  day  long,  or  he  was  taken  down  to  the  creek  and 
washed;  the  men  of  the  regulators  executed  my  orders — the  police. 

There  were  quite  a  number  of  storekeepers  of  different  kinds  there;  I  would 
be  safe  in  saying  there  were  a  thousand  of  different  kinds  in  the  stockade;  1  they 
would  keep  their  stores  in  their  tents;  they  dug  holes  in  the  ground  to  put  them 
in;  they  got  the  stores  from  the  post  adjutant — the  rebel  sutler;  they  got  the 
largest  part  of  them  from  him;  they  got  a  good  many  stores  through  the  hospital, 
and  by  paying  the  guards  at  the  gate  $5  or  such  matter  for  leave  to  go  into  the 
country  to  buy  them.  All  kinds  of  trades  that  are  calculated  to  make  men 
comfortable  were  carried  on  there,  such  as  shoemakers,  tailors,  watchmakers,  &c. 
There  were  two  watchmakers  there,  five  or  six  shoemakers,  and  five  or  six  tailors. 
The  streets  were  full  of  soup  jobbers;  there  were  about  thirty  eating-houses  there; 
they  consisted  of  tables  made  out  of  rough  boards  and  long  benches;  coffee,  tea, 
ham  and  eggs,  biscuit,  butter,  and  honey  could  be  got  there;  there  were  at  least 
five  hundred  bakers  in  the  stockade;  they  would  bake  biscuit,  bread,  pies,  cakes. 
They  would  get  the  flour  from  the  post-adjutant  and  from  the  cook-house  and 
through  the  hospital;  it  would  be  smuggled  in  from  the  cook-house  on  wood 
wagons;  it  would  be  concealed  below  the  wood  and  brought  in.  When  the 
wood  would  be  unloaded  the  flour  would  be  taken  out  and  delivered  to  the  men 
it  was  sold  to;  it  was  always  sold  previously  to  being  taken  in;  the  bakers 
would  manage  to  carry  on  their  business  very  easily;  there  was  always  plenty 
of  wood  for  sale  and  plenty  of  flour  to  be  had,  and  plenty  of  saleratus;  I  had  a 
50-pound  keg  of  that;  I  had  a  store  after  I  had  been  there  a  while,  styled  "the 
novelty  store."  I  had  a  greater  variety  to  sell  than  any  other  man  in  the 
camp;  some  of  the  articles  I  had  for  sale  were  potatoes,  onions,  peas,  beans, 
apples,  peaches,  grapes,  pears,  plums,  chickens,  watermelons,  saleratus,  flour, 
red  and  black  pepper,  honey,  butter,  and  beer;  I  had  sorghum,  about  a  barrel. 


1  Thus  there  was  a  storekeeper  for  every  25  or  30  men. 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  237 

I  had  to  pay  for  a  barrel  of  sorghum  $1,300  of  Confederate  money;  that  would 
be  $325  in  greenbacks.  I  had  to  pay  $70  of  Confederate  money  per  pound  for 
tea.  We  got  the  apples  from  the  post  adjutant;  they  cost  us  at  the  rate  of  $60 
a  bushel,  potatoes  the  same,  onions  the  same;  flour  cost  us  $70  a  sack  of  98 
pounds;  I  had  large  quantities  of  tobacco;  it  was  generally  in  25-pound  boxes, 
which  would  sell  at  $22.50;  we  got  ale  from  the  post  adjutant;  we  bought  it 
directly  from  him;  he  always  came  inside  with  loads  of  these  goods;  I  had 
ginger  and  capsicum,  and  different  kinds  of  roots  and  herbs  in  my  store;  I  would 
buy  them  from  the  paroled  men  detailed  in  the  hospital;  I  would  get  apples, 
grapes,  and  watermelons  sometimes  from  the  post  adjutant;  sometimes  from  the 
men  who  were  on  working  squads;  they  would  get  them  when  out  at  work  and 
would  bring  them  in  and  sell  them  to  the  traders  inside;  we  could  get  outside 
whenever  we  wanted  to  by  giving  the  sergeant  at  the  gate  $5,  generally  to  take 
us  out  to  the  country  to  a  house  where  those  articles  were  kept  for  sale;  it  was 
about  five  miles  outside  the  limits;  have  very  often  helped  sick  prisoners,  acquaint 
ances  of  mine;  I  would  give  them  medicine  for  scurvy  and  diarrhoea;  a  dose  of 
medicine  there  for  diarrhoea  would  cost  about  $1.25  in  greenbacks;  they  would 
come  around  there  to  my  tent  every  day  when  I  told  them  to  do  so.  There  were 
clothing  merchants  there;  there  were  only  two  that  I  particularly  know  of;  but 
there  were  a  great  many  on  the  streets  selling  clothing  of  different  kinds,  shirts, 
pants,  shoes,  overcoats,  caps  and  hats.  Clothing  was  very  cheap  there;  a  good 
pair  of  army  shoes  could  be  got  for  75  cents  or  a  dollar;  a  very  good  overcoat 
for  $4 ;  pants  for  $2 ;  shirts  were  about  the  dearest  things  there  were  there,  they 
averaged  about  $3.  There  were  quite  a  number  of  money  brokers  there;  they 
would  buy  and  sell  State  money,  Confederate  money,  gold  and  silver;  there  were 
about  50  of  that  class  there;  they  would  also  deal  in  bounty  certificates  and 
watches,  and  would  buy  and  sell  bank  checks.  There  were  bank  checks  to  buy 
and  sell;  they  would  be  brought  in  by  new  prisoners;  they  would  buy  these  bounty 
certificates  at  a  great  discount  and  run  the  risk  of  getting  their  pay  on  them; 
there  was  no  place  there  for  paying  those  bounty  certificates;  they  would  risk 
getting  their  pay  when  they  returned  North;  it  was  not  known  there  whether  the 
certificates  were  genuine  or  not;  most  of  them  were  on  the  State  of  Massachu 
setts;  they  gave  about  50  per  cent  for  bounty  certificates.  I  should  judge  there 
was  half  a  million  of  greenbacks  circulating  there  when  the  Plymouth  prisoners 
were  brought  in;  Confederate  money  was  brought  in  in  any  quantity.  There 
were  a  number  of  barber  shops  there  where  men  could  get  shaved,  their  hair  cut 
and  whiskers  dyed,  and  some  of  them  carried  on  the  doctoring  business.  Only 
one  carried  on  the  doctoring  business  that  I  know  of  personally.  They  would 
buy  their  dyeing  articles  to  work  with,  their  soap  and  other  things,  from  new 
arrivals.  Those  things  were  brought  in  in  large  quantities.  During  the  montb 
of  June  there  was  an  arrival  of  fresh  prisoners  nearly  every  day,  who  were  brought 
from  the  neighborhood  of  Petersburg  and  Richmond.  There  were  quite  a  number 
of  arrivals  in  July;  not  so  many  in  August.  Those  who  were  brought  in  in 
those  months  were  generally  able-bodied  men,  very  healthy,  well  clothed,  and  had! 
plenty  of  greenbacks.  They  had  also  a  number  of  little  articles  which  soldiers 
wear.  There  were  two  watchmakers  there  that  I  know  of.  They  repaired  watches 
and  jewelry.  I  have  been  at  their  shops.  I  saw  upwards  of  50  watches  in  one 


238  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

man's  shop,  and  a  number  of  articles,  such  as  breastpins  and  rings,  left  to  be 
repaired.  This  man  kept  a  journeyman;  the  work  was  too  heavy  for  himself. 
They  had  a  full  set  of  tools.  They  had  a  tent  to  work  in.  The  tents  were  gen 
erally  made  of  blankets  stretched  upon  poles.  Those  poles  were  brought  into 
camp  by  working  parties.  There  were  pole  merchants  there.  I  should  say  there 
were  about  30  pole  merchants.  The  working  squads  brought  poles  in — men  who 
were  taken  out  every  morning  to  work  and  who  were  sent  into  camp  in  the  even 
ing;  they  would  bring  in  such  things  as  they  could  secure  every  day,  fence  rails, 
poles,  and  boards.  The  bakers  could  carry  on  their  baking  business  very  easily; 
everything  that  was  needed  to  carry  it  on  was  to  be  had  in  the  camp.  Wood  was 
for  sale  in  large  quantities.  They  constructed  ovens  of  mud,  some  very  large 
and  others  very  small.  They  would  buy  the  wood  from  wood  merchants  and 
also  from  the  messes  in  camp.  I  cannot  say  how  many  wood  merchants  were 
there;  they  were  passing  around  on  the  streets  all  the  time.  A  common-sized 
cord  stick  was  worth  two  dollars  in  greenbacks.  There  were  about  five  hun 
dred  bakers  there.  The  tailors  had  the  business  of  making  pants  out  of  corn- 
sacks  taken  from  the  commissary  wagons.  There  were  a  number  of  tailors — 
five  or  six  I  was  acquainted  with.  They  were  always  busy  making  pants  for 
men  who  wanted  a  clean  pair  of  pants  to  put  on  once  in  a  while,  to  make  them 
selves  feel  like  being  at  home.  They  stole  the  sacks  out  of  the  commissary 
wagons. 

I  had  a  store.  I  first  bought  a  lot,  and  erected  a  shanty  on  it.  I  dug  a  cel 
lar  at  the  bottom  of  the  tent,  which  was  made  of  boards.  In  the  night-time  I 
would  keep  my  goods  in  the  cellar  and  in  the  day-time  I  would  display  them  on 
the  street.  I  would  buy  the  boards  from  men  who  belonged  to  the  working 
parties;  they  would  bring  them  in  when  they  came  in  at  night.  There  were 
about  three  thousand  tents  or  buildings  of  that  sort  inside  the  stockade,  as  near 
as  I  can  judge.  About  half  of  the  area  outside  the  dead-line  was  covered  with 
tents.  We  had  real  estate  owners  there;  every  man  owned  the  ground  his  tent 
was  on.  There  were  some  real  estate  agents  for  the  purpose  of  buying  and  sell 
ing  lots.  They  would  buy  lots  whenever  they  could  find  them  for  sale,  and 
pay  for  them  according  to  the  locality.  I  bought  a  lot  on  a  side  street,  six  feet 
square,  and  gave  a  dollar  for  it.  I  bought  another  on  a  principal  street,  also  six 
feet  square,  for  which  I  gave  five  dollars.  There  was  not  anything  on  it.  I 
erected  a  shanty  in  both  places.  I  bought  the  boards,  which  were  for  sale  there 
every  day.  There  were  lumber  merchants  there.  I  occupied  the  shanties.  I 
occupied  them  for  stores  and  for  dwelling  both. 

There  were  gamblers  there;  quite  a  number  of  them.  They  would  deal  faro, 
honest  John,  euchre,  seven  up,  and  poker.  There  was  an  organized  gang  of 
gamblers  there;  also  some  detached  gamblers  who  would  make  use  of  tents 
during  the  day-time  to  gamble  in,  and  who  would  have  runners  hunting  out  men 
who  wanted  to  gamble.  There  was  a  great  deal  of  money  won  and  lost  every 
day;  there  were  a  good  many  "chuckle-up"  dealers,  men  who  had  a  little  board 
with  numbers  on,  and  boxes  of  dice.  There  was  money  there,  so  that  that  could 
be  made  profitable;  I  should  judge  there  were  a  hundred  "chuckle-up"  dealers 
on  the  main  street,  and  they  had  a  crowd  around  them  at  all  hours  of  the  day. 


TESTIMONY  FOR  DEFENSE.  239 

There  was  a  great  deal  of  suffering  there  on  account  of  exposure  to  the 
weather.  I  cannot  say  that  anybody  suffered  from  hunger.  The  rations  that 
I  got  when  I  first  went  there  were  sufficient  for  me  to  live  on;  after  the  first 
week  I  did  not  eat  the  rations  at  all.  If  anybody  had  money  there  he  could  get 
what  he  wanted  to  eat.  There  were  about  a  thousand  dealers,  stores  and  such 
like,  there  I  think.  . 

[To  the  Court.]  The  adjutant's  name  was  Selman;  he  was  a  Confederate 
officer.  He  belonged  outside;  he  had  a  board  shanty  erected  inside,  and  had 
two  Federal  prisoners  to  take  charge  of  it.  That  was  the  sutler's  storehouse. 
He  would  have  large  quantities  of  flour,  tobacco,  beans,  and  peas,  salt  and  rice, 
and  small  quantities  of  onions,  potatoes,  apples,  and  such  things.  Things  that 
were  liable  to  spoil  would  be  brought  in  in  small  quantities,  and  anything  not 
liable  to  spoil  would  be  brought  in  in  large  quantities.  I  would  obtain  grapes 
by  the  quart  every  day. 

There  were  at  least  four  hundred  wells  and  springs  in  the  camp.  The  water 
was  always  plentiful.  The  water  was  very  clear  and  good  until  the  month  of 
June.  During  June  the  water  was  very  muddy. 

Q.     How  did  they  get  water  out  of  the  wells? 

A.  There  were  strings  and  ropes  in  the  camp,  and  boot-legs  were  cut  up  and 
leather  strings  made.  There  were  buckets ;  six  buckets  were  issued  to  each  squad  of 
ninety  men,  and  there  were  also  buckets  for  sale.  All  the  buckets  that  were  wanted 
could  be  obtained  for  money.  There  was  one  man  there  who  made  bogus  green 
backs  ;  followed  it  as  a  business ;  he  made  a  living  at  it ;  he  had  men  to  pass  them 
off  at  so  much  a  dollar.  Those  greenbacks  would  be  thrown  over  the  stockade  to 
the  guards  in  exchange  for  goods.  He  manufactured  them  with  a  green  and  a  red 
pencil  and  paper.  I  have  seen  some  of  them;  I  had  one  passed  on  myself,  a 
ten-dollar  bill.  None  of  these  men  were  ever  tried  or  punished.  The  making  of 
them  was  countenanced  because  it  was  for  the  benefit  of  the  prisoners. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  look  back  over  the  testimony  of  these 
twelve  witnesses.  Most  of  them  were  in  some  way  favored  by  their 
keeper  and  showed  a  willingness  to  shield  him  so  far  as  they  could. 
The  reader,  however,  will  fail  to  find  in  their  testimony,  any  facts 
diminishing  the  force  of  the  evidence  which  unerringly  described  the 
actual  conditions  surrounding  the  prisoners  and  located  the  responsi 
bility  for  these  conditions.  No  one  can  attach  the  slightest  credence 
to  Fechtner's  testimony.  It  is  at  variance  with  all  the  evidence  and 
describes  an  utterly  impossible  condition  in  the  prison.  It  must  strike 
the  reader  as  remarkable  that  counsel  would  submit  to  the  court  an 
account  so  grotesque  and  unbelievable. 


CHAPTER   X. 

TREATMENT  OP  PRISONERS  (CONTINUED) — CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  PUNISHMENTS 
INFLICTED — BALLS  AND  CHAINS  USED  AS  MEANS  OF  PUNISHMENT — PRISONERS 
CONFINED  IN  THE  STOCKS  AND  LEFT  EXPOSED  TO  THE  WEATHER — THE  "DEAD 
LINE"  AND  ITS  ATTENDANT  PERILS — FEROCIOUS  DOGS  USED  TO  HUNT  DOWN 
ESCAPING  PRISONERS — PRISONERS  TORN  AND  MUTILATED  BY  THESE  DOGS- 
PRISONERS  DIE  FROM  EFFECTS — IMPURE  AND  DEADLY  VACCINE  MATTER  USED 
FOR  VACCINATION  OF  THE  PRISONERS,  CAUSING  MANY  HORRIBLE  DEATHS — 
WIRZ  BOASTS  OF  His  SERVICE  TO  THE  KEBELLION  IN  SLAYING  PRISONERS — RE 
VOLTING  MANNER  OF  HANDLING  AND  BURYING  THE  DEAD — TESTIMONY  OF 
REBEL  WITNESSES  CONFIRMS  TESTIMONY  OF  WIRZ'S  CRUELTY  TO  PRISONERS — 
REPORT  ON  PRISONS  BY  UNITED  STATES  SANITARY  COMMISSION  AND  COM 
MITTEE  OF  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


IN  the  preceding  chapters  evidence  has  been  presented  bearing  upon 
the  charge  of  conspiracy,  more  particularly  in  respect  to  the  general 
management  of  the  prison.  Attention  will  next  be  given  to  the  more 
personal  treatment  of  prisoners  by  Wirz.  It  serves  to  emphasize  the 
guilt  of  the  persons  responsible  for  retaining  him  in  control,  when, 
as  we  shall  see,  such  treatment  consisted  of  cruel  and  inhuman  pun 
ishment  inflicted  for  light  and  trivial  causes  and  in  violation  of  the 
laws  and  customs  of  civilized  warfare.  The  system  of  control  and 
discipline  of  the  prison,  in  its  entirety,  must  be  the  measure  by  which 
guilt  or  innocence  is  to  be  adjudged.  I  have  endeavored  to  show  upon 
what  evidence  the  court  found  the  parties  named  in  charge  1,  to  be 
guilty  as  charged;  of  "conspiring  to  destroy  the  lives  and  injure  the 
health  of  Union  soldiers,  by  confining  the  prisoners  in  unhealthy  and 
unwholesome  quarters,  by  exposing  them  to  the  inclemency  of  the 
winter  and  to  the  dews  and  burning  sun  of  summer;  by  compelling 
the  use  of  impure  water,  by  furnishing  insufficient  and  unwholesome 
food;  by  neglecting  to  furnish  tents,  barracks  or  other  shelter  for 
their  protection  from  the  inclemency  of  winter  or  the  burning  rays  of 
the  sun  in  summer;  by  neglecting  to  provide  proper  lodging,  food  or 
nourishment  for  the  sick,  or  necessary  medicines  and  medical  attend 
ance  for  the  restoration  of  their  health,  and  permitting  the  sick  to 
languish  and  die  for  want  of  proper  care  and  treatment ;  by  permitting 
the  bodies  of  the  dead  to  remain  in  the  prison  among  the  emaciated 
sick  and  languishing  living,  until  the  said  bodies  became  loathsome 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  241 

and  filled  the  air  with  fetid  and  noxious  exhalations,  thereby  greatly 
increasing  the  unwholesomeness  of  the  prison."  The  reader  is  to  judge 
whether,  in  the  foregoing  chapters,  these  specifications  have  been 
proved.  Evidence  will  now  be  given  in  support  of  the  further  speci 
fication  to  charge  1,  namely — "That  the  prison  keeper,  in  pursuance 
of  the  general  design,  subjected  the  prisoners  to  cruel  and  unusual 
punishment  upon  slight  and  trivial  pretenses,  by  fastening  large  balls 
of  iron  to  their  feet,  and  binding  large  numbers  of  the  prisoners  closely 
together  with  large  chains  about  their  necks  and  feet,  and  being  so 
confined  subjecting  them  to  the  burning  rays  of  the  sun;  that  he  con 
fined  them  in  stocks,  often  without  food  or  drink,  for  hours  and  even 
days,  by  reason  whereof  many  sickened  and  died;  that  he  established 
a  dead-line  within  the  stockade  about  twenty  feet  from  the  inner 
face  thereof,  which  was  marked  by  insecure  and  shifting  stakes  and 
strips  of  boards,  and  at  places  an  imaginary  line,  and  gave  orders  to 
the  guards  to  shoot  any  persons  who  might  touch,  fall  upon,  or  under, 
or  cross  said  dead-line,  by  reason  of  which  many  persons  were  killed ; 
that  he  used  and  kept  ferocious  dogs,  dangerous  to  life,  to  hunt  down 
prisoners  who  made  their  escape  and  encouraged  said  beasts  to  seize, 
tear  and  mangle  the  bodies  of  fugitive  prisoners,  whereby  many  were 
slain;  that  he  used  poisonous  vaccine  matter  for  the  vaccination  of 
said  prisoners,  whereby  many  died." 

Reserving  for  the  present  the  summing  up  of  the  evidence,  a  phase 
of  the  case  is  approached,  less  sweeping  in  its  resultant  mortality  but 
none  the  less  significant  of  the  prevailing  spirit  and  apparent  motive 
which  actuated  the  perpetrators  of  the  crimes  charged  against  them. 

It  will  not  be  found  practicable  to  group  the  evidence  as  to  any 
particular  form  of  cruelty  or  punishment  to  which  prisoners  were 
subjected  by  Wirz  or  by  his  orders,  nor  can  the  witnesses  be  con 
veniently  classified.  Neither  will  attempt  be  made  to  give  all  the 
evidence  introduced  by  the  prosecution,  embracing  the  subject  we  are 
now  to  consider.  Enough  testimony  will  be  shown,  however, — much  of 
it  by  witnesses  who  were  in  the  rebel  service, — to  support  the  specifica 
tions  above  alluded  to.  Some  of  the  witnesses  who  will  be  quoted 
testified  on  other  matters  as  already  shown. 

TESTIMONY  OP  COLONEL  GIBBS. 

Colonel  Gibbs,  of  the  Confederate  army,  whose  previous  testimony 
will  be  remembered,  testified  r1 

1  Record,  p.  22  et  seq. 


242  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

Q.     Did  you  ever  know  him  [Wirz]  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  hospital? 

A.  I  never  knew  him  to  interfere  with  the  medical  treatment  of  the  prisoners 
in  the  hospital.  The  only  instance  of  interference  I  have  ever  known  was  the 
punishment  of  a  paroled  man,  employed  as  a  nurse,  I  think,  who  had  failed  to 
report  the  escape  of  a  prisoner. 

Q.     What  did  Captain  Wirz  do  with  him? 

A.  The  man  was  put  in  the  "stocks"  for  a  little  while,  till  Dr.  James  inter 
fered  and  demanded  his  release. 

I  know  of  there  having  been  established  a  dead-line  at  the  prison.  I  do  not 
know  if  Captain  Wirz  had  anything  to  do  with  the  construction  of  it.  Its  ob 
ject  was  to  keep  the  prisoners  from  approaching  the  stockade.  I  cannot  tell  what 
Captain  Wirz's  orders  were  in  regard  to  it.  I  presume  there  were  orders,  but  do 
not  know  what  they  were.  I  never  heard  them.  I  never  gave  any,  and  I  never 
heard  Wirz  give  any.  The  existing  regulation  at  all  the  military  prisons  I  know 
of  was  that  any  one  crossing  the  dead-line  was  to  be  shot;  I  believe  that  was  the 
regulation  at  Andersonville. 

I  know  that  there  were  dogs  kept  at  the  prison.  They  were  intended,  on  the 
escape  of  prisoners,  to  track  them,  so  that  they  could  be  recaptured.  They  were 
used  in  that  way.  I  do  not  know  how  they  were  subsisted,  except  in  this;  that 
after  the  prison  became  almost  empty  of  prisoners,  when  there  were  none  left 
but  a  few  sick,  the  dogs  were  subsisted  by  corn  meal  furnished  by  the  commissary. 
I  heard  they  were  mustered  into  the  Confederate  service  as  horses,  but  I  do  not 
know  of  my  own  knowledge  that  they  were.  A  man  named  Turner  had  them  in 
charge;  I  do  not  know  his  given  name,  or  what  became  of  him. 

I  have  seen  at  the  prison  an  instrument  called  "the  stocks."  The  prisoner  did 
not  tell  me  anything  about  the  use  of  them;  he  never  spoke  to  me  about  them 
at  all.  I  do  not  know  of  any  man  being  put  in  them,  except  the  one  of  whom 
I  spoke. 

The  prisoner  never  told  me  about  any  other  instrument  of  torture  or  discipline 
used  for  the  purpose  of  enforcing  discipline.  There  was  a  ball  and  chain  at  the 
place.  I  have  heard  him  speak  of  an  instrument  called  the  "chain-gang."  He 
said  there  had  been  such  a  gang  at  Andersonville. 

Q.  Do  you  know  who  was  in  the  habit  of  giving  orders  in  that  prison  for 
executing  any  sentence? 

A.     I  do  not  know  of  any  sentence  having  been  pronounced. 

Q.     Do  you  know  who  put  in  the  stocks  the  man  you  spoke  of? 

A.  It  was  done  by  order  of  Captain  Wirz;  I  know  he  was  not  ordered  to  do 
it  by  any  superior  officer. 

The  hounds  were  in  charge  of  a  man  named  Turner;  they  were  certainly  not 
bloodhounds  according  to  my  understanding  of  what  bloodhounds  are;  I  think 
they  were  ordinary  plantation  dogs,  a  mixture  of  hound  and  cur,  and  anything 
else — the  ordinary  plantation  dogs;  I  think  there  were  about  six  or  seven  kept 
there;  they  were  not  kept  in  the  prison,  but  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  from  it, 
in  a  building  which  had  been  used  as  soldiers'  quarters;  I  believe  they  were  a 
part  of  the  discipline  of  the  prison;  I  do  not  know  by  whose  order  the  dogs  were 
kept  there;  I  do  not  know  who  established  them  there  at  all. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  243 

Q.  Did  you  ever  know  of  Captain  Wirz  giving  any  orders  in  reference  to 
them? 

A.  Mr.  Turner  was  under  the  orders  of  Captain  Wirz. 

Q.  Would  he  not  have  been  under  the  orders  of  any  other  person  who  was 
in  Captain  Wirz's  place? 

A.  That  I  cannot  say;  I  could  not  say  under  whose  orders  he  might  have 

been  before  I  went  there.  • 

Q.  You  never  knew  of  Captain  Wirz  using  them  at  all? 

A.  I  never  knew  of  his  using  them  himself;  I  know  that  Mr.  Turner,  who 
kept  them,  was  under  Captain  Wirz's  orders. 

Q.  Was  Mr.  Turner  a  person  in  the  employ  of  the  prison? 

A.  He  was  a  detailed  soldier. 

Q.  How  large  dogs  were  they? 

A.  They  were  of  various  sizes,  little  and  big. 

Q.  Were  they  ferocious  dogs  or  were  they  harmless? 

A.  I  do  not  think  they  were  harmless  dogs. 

Q.  Were  they  dangerous  dogs? 

A.  I  do  not  know  about  that. 

Q.  Were  they  anything  more  than  the  ordinary  farm  dog? 

A.  They  were  the  ordinary  plantation  dog. 

Q.  Not  all  ferocious  or  dangerous? 

A.  Well,  I  do  not  know  about  that. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  BARROWS. 

Dr.  A.  V.  Barrows,  a  paroled  prisoner,  detailed  for  duty  in  the 
hospital,  testified:1 

I  had  in  my  ward  cases  of  vaccination.  I  had  what  I  call  vaccine  sores;  they 
were  in  the  arms  usually;  sometimes  in  the  axilla.  They  were  the  result  of 
vaccination,  and  had  every  symptom  of  "secondary"  syphilis,  in  my  opinion.  A 
person  can  be  impregnated  with  that  disease  by  inoculation;  it  is  so  put  down 
in  medical  history.  I  should  say  I  have  seen  two  or  three  hundred  cases  of 
that  description  in  the  course  of  my  stay  there.  The  sores  were  as  large  as  my 
hand,  and  were  produced  by  vaccination.  In  my  opinion,  the  matter  used  must 
have  been  impure.  I  considered  it  as  poisonous,  judging  from  the  effects  and 
results;  there  was  every  appearance  of  "secondary"  syphilis  in  the  sores.  Ampu 
tations  were  necessary  from  that  cause,  and  I  do  not  remember  of  one  living; 
there  may  have  been,  but  I  do  not  remember  such  a  case  at  the  present  time.  I 
have  seen  men  die  from  the  effects  of  that  vaccination  in  the  months  of  June, 
July,  and  August;  more  particularly,  1864.  I  have  had  conversations  with  the 
surgeons  about  that  matter,  and  some  of  them  have  admitted  that,  in  their  opin 
ion,  it  was  poisonous  matter.  I  do  not  know  that  I  called  Dr.  White's  attention 
to  it  specially.  I  was  not  considered  as  a  privileged  character  there,  and  had  not 
opportunities  to  report.  He  had  means  of  knowing  it,  and  must  have  known  it; 
he  visited  the  hospital  very  often. 

The  "stocks"  is  a  frame  about  six  feet  high,  with  boards  that  shut  together, 
leaving  just  room  enough  for  a  man's  neck,  and  arranged  so  that  his  arms  are 

1  Record,  p.  45  et  seq. 


244  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

fastened  at  full  length  each  way,  and  his  feet  just  touch  the  ground.  I  have 
seen  cases  where  the  men  could  have  the  privilege  of  standing  on  their  feet  with 
their  whole  weight  on  the  feet;  and  I  have  also  seen  them  where  they  could 
merely  touch  the  ground  with  their  toes.  I  have  seen  men  punished  with  the 
stocks  both  ways.  There  was  a  different  kind  of  stocks  from  those  I  have  de 
scribed.  There  was  one  kind  for  putting  the  men's  feet  in  the  stocks,  and  balls 
and  chains  on  their  hands,  with  their  feet  elevated.  The  men  would  be  lying, 
or  I  do  not  know  but  they  might  sit  up.  I  do  not  remember  any  other  descrip 
tion  of  stocks  but  that. 

I  have  seen  six  men  in  the  chain-gang,  and  I  remember  seeing  eighteen  men 
in  it  at  one  time;  a  heavy  chain  ran  from  one  to  the  other,  and  round  their  necks, 
chaining  them  all  together  in  a  circle  as  it  were.  They  were  connected  with 
handcuffs  on  their  hands,  and  balls  and  chains  to  their  feet,  and  those  chains 
running  from  their  feet  connected  in  some  way  with  the  circular  chain  that  ran 
from  one  to  the  other.  That  is  as  near  as  I  can  describe  it.  A  32-pound  ball 
was  attached  to  the  chain,  or  a  smaller  ball,  perhaps  ten  or  twenty  pounds.  I 
am  not  able  to  state  the  exact  size.  The  prisoners  were  confined  in  the  chain- 
gang  at  all  hours  of  the  day.  I  have  known  of  some  men  being  there  for  a 
week,  and  some  two  weeks,  at  different  times!  The  time  would  vary.  The  men 
would  have  to  be  there  as  long  as  Captain  Wirz  saw  fit  to  let  them  remain  there. 
They  were  without  shelter  in  the  sun  or  rain.  The  effect  upon  the  men  at  best 
must  be  to  weaken  them — reduce  their  strength.  I  cannot  testify  that  I  saw  any 
prisoners  die  from  being  confined  in  the  chain-gang.  I  have  no  doubt  of  the  fact, 
although  I  did  not  see  the  men  die. 

I  have  seen  the  hounds  used  at  the  prison.  I  think  the  first  time  I  saw  them 
was  in  the  forepart  of  the  month  of  June,  1864.  At  that  time  some  one  had 
made  his  escape  from  the  hospital.  They  were  brought  to  the  hospital  and 
taken  round  the  hospital  to  see  where  the  man  went  away,  and  they  took  the 
trail,  and  caught  the  man,  and  he  was  brought  back  and  put  into  the  stocks.  I 
have  seen  Captain  Wirz  on  horseback  with  the  party  who  were  running  the 
hounds.  I  could  not  say  that  he  was  running  them.  Turner  had  command  of 
them,  and  I  have  seen  Wirz  order  the  men  off. — I  mean  the  men  who  had  charge 
of  the  hounds.  I  have  heard  him  give  orders  to  Sergeant  Smith,  I  think  his 
name  was,  to  start  the  hounds,  as  some  one  had  got  away  from  the  hospital,  or 
something  to  that  effect,  at  a  good  many  different  times. 

I  remember  a  man  making  his  escape  from  the  hospital  in  July,  and  being 
overtaken  by  the  hounds;  a  large  portion  of  his  ear  was  torn  off,  and  his  face 
mangled,  and  he  was  afterwards  brought  into  the  hospital.  That  man  got  well. 
This  was  in  July  or  August,  1864;  I  do  not  remember  the  exact  date.  I  re 
member,  also,  that,  at  the  end  of  August,  or  in  September,  1864,  a  man  who  had 
been  bitten  badly  by  the  dogs  in  trying  to  make  his  escape,  was  brought  into 
my  ward  and  died.  The  wound  took  on  gangrene  and  he  died.  He  was  a 
Union  prisoner.  I  am  not  certain  whether  he  was  trying  to  escape  from  the 
stockade  or  the  hospital.  I  cannot  state  the  exact  date  when  he  died.  It  was 
either  the  last  of  August  or  the  forepart  of  September.  If  my  memory  serves 
me  right,  I  should  say  he  died  four  or  five  days  after  he  was  torn  by  the  dogs. 
I  know  the  wound  took  on  gangrene  and  he  died.  I  do  not  think  he  died  di- 


246  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

rectly  from  the  effects  of  the  wound.  I  think  he  did  indirectly— it  was  from  the 
effects  of  the  gangrene.  The  gangrene  was  manifested  in  the  wound,  and  in  no 
other  part.  He  was  bitten  through  the  throat  on  the  side  of  the  neck,  and  gan 
grene  set  in,  and  he  died.  The  gangrene  was  the  result  of  the  bite,  in  my 
opinion. 

I  have  often  heard  Captain  Wirz  tell  the  guard  at  the  hospital,  that  if  any  of 
those  "Yanks"  tried  to  get  away  to  shoot  them.  We  had  no  dead-line  estab 
lished  there.  I  remember  one  of  our  soldiers  being  shot  in  the  hospital.  He 
was  a  man  from  my  ward;  I  don't  remember  his  name.  It  was  in  August,  1864. 
He  was  cold.  There  was  a  fire  inside  the  enclosure  on  the  south  part  of  the 
hospital.  It  was  swampy  there,  and  there  was  no  ground  for  the  guard  to  stand 
on,  and  they  were  stationed  inside  the  hospital  at  one  portion  of  it.  Where  this 
shooting  happened  the  board  fence  came  down  to  the  swamp,  and  there  the 
guards  were  on  the  other  side.  This  was  a  patient  in  my  ward.  He  got  up  to 
go  warm  himself  by  this  fire  beside  the  fence,  perhaps  five  or  six  feet  from  it. 
A  Confederate  soldier  put  his  gun  barrel  through  the  fence  and  shot  him,  break 
ing  his  thigh.  His  limb  was  amputated  by  Dr.  White.  Within  five  to  seven 
days  he  died.  He  was  shot  inside  of  the  hospital.  This  happened  some  time  in 
August,  1864,  I  think. 

I  remember  once,  when  we  were  expecting  a  raid  from  Kilpatrick,  I  was  up 
at  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters;  he  was  standing  by  the  battery;  I  heard  him 
give  orders  to  the  gunners  if  the  prisoners  huddled  together  in  a  heap  in  the 
stockade  to  fire  the  artillery  upon  them;  that  was  at  the  time  of  Sherman's  march, 
about  the  time  he  took  Atlanta;  there  was  a  good  deal  of  excitement  in  the  stock 
ade  as  well  as  out;  the  troops  were  drawn  up  in  line  around  the  stockade  all  the 
time;  there  were  from  33,000  to  36,000  prisoners  there  at  that  time,  as  I  under 
stood;  it  was  difficult  for  the  prisoners  to  avoid  being  huddled  together;  there 
were  so  many  that  when  they  lay  down  at  night  they  would  cover  every  foot  of 
the  ground;  that,  I  believe,  was  before  the  stockade  was  enlarged;  it  was  enlarged 
some  two  acres;  I  will  not  be  positive  whether  it  was  before  or  after;  but  previ 
ous  to  its  enlargement,  the  stockade  was  terribly  crowded,  so  that  the  prisoners, 
when  they  lay  down,  would  cover  the  whole  space,  I  think. 

I  know  about  rations  being  cut  off  from  prisoners  in  the  stockade.  I  remember 
being  at  the  bake-house  or  cookery  when  I  heard  of  it.  Some  of  the  men  had 
been  trying  to  tunnel  out.  I  think  the  whole  thirty  thousand  prisoners  were 
deprived  of  rations  until  these  men  could  be  found  out.  They  were  twenty-four 
hours  without  rations  at  that  time,  and  there  was  a  great  deal  of  disturbance 
in  relation  to  it. 

When  I  first  went  there,  the  dead  were  carried  from  the  hospital  over  to  the 
outer  gate  of  the  stockade,  where  they  were  laid,  lying  in  a  row,  three  or  four 
rods  from  the  front  entrance.  Those  who  died  in  the  stockade  during  the 
night  were  brought  out  the  next  morning,  and  from  there  they  were  hauled  to 
the  burying  ground.  I  cannot  tell  you  exactly  how  long  the  bodies  were  al 
lowed  to  remain  ^there.  They  were  not  hauled  away  immediately.  For  instance, 
if  dead  bodies  were  taken  out  at  night  they  remained  there  over  night  till  the 
next  morning.  As  to.  the  dead-house  at  the  hospital,  I  remember  at  one  time 
some  dead  bodies  lying  there  some  three  days.  I  made  a  complaint  to  Dr. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  247 

Cridelle,  who  commanded  the  division  in  which  my  ward  was,  and  he  made  a 
complaint  to  higher  authorities,  I  do  not  know  to  whom,  and  the  bodies  were 
hauled  away.  The  stench  was  terrible;  worse  than  any  dissecting  room  I  was 
ever  in.  It  was  in  August,  and  was  very  hot  weather.  I  could  plainly  dis 
cover  the  effect  of  it  upon  the  atmosphere  of  my  tent,  which  was  ten  or  fifteen 
rods  from  the  dead-house.  I  called  the  attention  of  a  number  of  surgeons  to 
it,  Dr.  Kilpatrick,  Dr.  Cridelle,  and  others.  I  think  Dr.  Cridelle  entered  the 
complaint  to  higher  authorities.  I  think  that  is  the  only  time  I  ever  knew 
dead  bodies  to  remain  there  such  a  length  of  time.  I  have  known  of  persons 
who  died  in  my  ward  in  the  night  and  were  not  found  perhaps  till  next  morning. 
Often  in  making  my  morning  call  through  my  ward  I  have  found  men  dead, 
lying  beside  a  comrade  asleep.  It  was  a  very  common  occurrence  in  the  hospi 
tal.  I  do  not  know  how  it  was  in  the  stockade.  I  remember  when  there  have 
been  as  many  as  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  who  died  during  the  day  in 
the  stockade,  and  who  were  never  taken  to  the  hospital.  That  was  in  the  month 
of  August.  These  men  died  without  coming  outside  the  stockade.  There  were 
surgeons  who  went  to  the  outer  gate,  and  who  were  called  stockade  surgeons. 
Those  who  were  able  to  come  out  to  that  gate  received  medical  treatment,  as  far  as 
the  medical  officers  would  give  it  to  them. 

At  the  time  when  they  were  removing  the  prisoners  from  Andersonville  to 
Savannah,  I  suppose,  and  other  places,  I  was  up  at  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters 
one  day;  they  were  taking  the  prisoners  from  the  stockade  to  the  railroad;  I 
don't  remember  the  month;  there  was  one  man  who  was  sick,  unable  to  walk, 
and  he  fell  back;  I  could  not  hear  Captain  Wirz's  language  to  him,  but  I  saw 
Captain  Wirz  knock  him  down  and  stamp  on  him;  I  think  it  was  in  September, 
1864;  he  had  a  revolver,  but  I  could  not  say  whether  he  struck  him  with  his 
revolver  or  his  hand;  I  was  perhaps  four  rods  from  him. 

I  remember  hearing  Captain  Wirz  make  the  remark  that  he  was  of  more  service 
to  the  Confederate  Government,  by  being  in  command  of  that  prison,  than  any 
four  regiments  at  the  front. 

TESTIMONY   OF   BOSTON    COBBETT. 

Boston  Corbett,  a  Federal  prisoner,  testified:1 

I  observed  outside  the  stockade  some  forts,  some  guns  near  the  headquarters, 
and  around  the  building  near  the  headquarters  I  noticed  several  men  with  heavy 
balls  and  chains.  They  were  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  sun.  The  heat  was  so 
great  that  I  have  the  marks  upon  my  shoulder  yet. 

I  have  seen  the  stocks  when  I  went  to  help  to  carry  a  comrade  to  sick-call,  but 
I  do  not  recollect  seeing  any  one  put  in  them.  They  were  exposed  to  the  sun 
so  that  any  one  in  them  would  have  to  be  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  sun. 

I  know  of  hounds  having  been  kept  there  for  hunting  and  recapturing  prisoners 
who  tried  to  escape.  In  the  month  of  October,  1864,  we  were  allowed  in  certain 
instances  to  go  outside  the  stockade,  under  rebel  guard  to  bring  in  wood  for  fuel. 
For  some  months  previously  we  had  not  been  allowed  such  a  privilege.  I  told  some 
of  my  comrades  that  the  first  time  I  got  outside  the  stockade  I  should  try  to 
escape.  Being  one  of  a  party  of  twenty  who  went  out  in  that  way,  after  going 

1  Record,  p.  72  et  seq. 


248  THE  TBAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

some  short  distance  from  the  stockade,  perhaps  half  a  mile  (more  or  less),  I 
watched  an  opportunity  and  made  my  escape  from  the  guards.  I  got  some  short 
distance  and  secreted  myself.  While  I  was  there  they  came  in  pursuit  of  me,  but 
my  hiding-place  was  sufficiently  secure,  and  they  could  not  find  me,  although  I 
heard  my  name  called  and  heard  men  passing  close  by  me.  I  lay  there  perhaps  an 
hour  or  two,  when  I  heard  the  yelping  of  dogs  in  the  distance.  The  man  with 
the  hounds  evidently  thought  that  I  was  further  off,  and  he  had  taken  them  to  a 
considerable  distance.  I  heard  them  in  the  distance;  then  nearer  and  nearer,  till 
they  finally  approached  me,  and  one  actually  rubbed  his  nose  against  my  face.  I 
was  ready  for  a  spring,  and  intended  to  grapple  with  him ;  but  the  dogs,  instead  of 
tearing  me,  made  a  circle  and  kept  running  about  me  until  the  hunter  came.  He 
immediately  called  the  dogs  off  and  told  me  that  I  would  have  to  go  back  with  him. 
He  put  up  his  pistol  and  talked  pretty  clever  to  me.  He  said,  "The  old  captain 
told  me  to  make  the  dogs  tear  you,  but  I  have  been  a  prisoner  myself  and  know 
what  it  is  to  be  a  prisoner,  and  I  would  not  like  to  do  that."  Speaking  kindly  to 
me,  he  took  me  back  to  headquarters.  The  first  question  of  Captain  Wirz  was, 
"Why  did  you  not  make  the  dogs  bite  him?"  evidently  showing  that  he  had  given 
the  order  which  the  man  had  told  me  he  got.  The  answer  of  the  man  showed 
me  that  he  was  under  the  command  and  inferior  to  Captain  Wirz.  He  replied,  "I 
guess  the  dogs  hurt  him  enough,"  and  that  seemed  to  satisfy  Captain  Wirz,  who 
ordered  me  to  be  taken  back  to  the  stockade. 

That  dead-line  was  a  slight  wooden  railing,  about  the  height  of  this  railing, 
[some  three  feet] ;  it  was  on  little  upright  posts,  running  inside  of  the  stockade, 
about  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  from  it,  as  I  thought  then;  but  I  have  heard  since 
that  it  was  further  than  that — that  it  was  twenty  feet;  I  judged  myself  that  it 
was  from  twelve  to  fifteen  feet.  At  the  place  where  the  stream  entered  the 
stockade  the  dead-line  was  broken  down  for  some  weeks,  and  during  that  time 
there  were  several  men  shot  there.  I  have  seen  several  carried  away  from  there 
who  were  said  to  have  been  killed  in  that  way.  The  horrors  of  that  prison  were 
so  great  that  one  man  went  over  the  line,  and  refused  to  leave  it  until  he  was 
shot  dead.  So  great  was  the  horror  and  misery  of  that  place  that  I  myself  had 
thoughts  of  going  over  that  dead-line  to  be  shot  in  preference  to  living  there.  But 
it  immediately  occurred  to  my  mind  that  it  was  a  Christian's  duty  to  bear  whatever 
was  thrown  upon  me,  otherwise  I  should  have  undoubtedly  gone  over — preferring 
death  to  life.  I  think  that  in  every  case  of  shooting  I  knew  of  they  were  men 
who  had  to  go  to  that  place  to  get  water.  The  nearer  to  the  stockade  the  clearer 
the  water  was,  consequently  men  would  go  in  search  of  it  as  far  as  they  dared  to 
go  to  get  clear  water;  and,  in  some  cases,  they  would  get  on  the  line  without 
knowing  it,  because  there  was  no  actual  line  on  the  spot,  and  they  would  have  to 
look  to  the  right  or  to  the  left  to  see  where  the  line  ought  to  be.  I  believe. that,  in 
many  cases,  new  prisoners  who  had  not  been  warned  about  the  dead-line  crossed 
it,  and  were  shot  without  knowing  where  the  dead-line  was,  as  no  warning  would 
be  given  except,  as  I  have  said,  by  our  own  men.  I  used  to  make  it  a  particular 
portion  of  my  business  when  new  prisoners  came  to  show  them  the  dead-line,  be 
cause  when  I  went  there  at  first  myself  I  would  have  been  shot  if  one  of  our  own 
men  had  not  dragged  me  back. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  249 

I  have  been  within  hearing  of  the  sentinels  who  shot  men  on  that  line  or  passing 
it.  I  never  heard  them  halt  a  man,  or  give  him  any  intimation.  The  instance 
that  occurs  to  my  mind  is  this:  one  of  the  rebel  sentinels  had  just  shot  one  of  our 
men;  one  of  the  other  prisoners  seeing  it,  remonstrated  with  him,  threatening  re 
taliation  if  ever  he  got  a  chance;  the  rebel  hastily  reloaded  his  piece,  took  aim  at 
the  man,  and  told  him  if  he  heard  another  word  out  of  his  head  he  would  shoot  him 
dead;  whereupon,  of  course,  the  man  said  no  more.  I  do  not  recollect  ever  hear 
ing  the  sentinels  say  anything  in  reference  to  their  orders.  I  do  not  know  the 
number  of.  prisoners  I  have  seen  killed  or  shot  by  the  sentinels  on  duty.  I  often, 
very  often,  heard  the  report  of  a  musket.  I  knew  by  what  was  said  that  a  man 
was  shot,  but  I  did  not  see  it;  but  I  saw  several  cases  myself.  It  was  a  very 
common  occurrence. 

TESTIMONY  OF   MARTIN  E.    HOGAN. 

Martin  E.  Hogan,  of  the  1st  Indiana  Cavalry,  testified:1 

I  saw  hounds  that  were  used  about  there ;  I  have  been  captured  myself  and 
brought  back  by  them — not,  however,  by  the  hounds  used  in  that  hospital — I  was 
brought  back  by  an  outside  pack  of  hounds.  They  were  patrols  of  hounds  around 
the  stockade  for  eighteen  miles.  The  pack  there  I  saw  every  morning.  They 
were  under  the  charge  of  a  man  named  Turner.  I  have  seen  the  prisoner  when 
they  were  trying  to  strike  the  trail  of  escaped  prisoners,  riding  around  on  his  gray 
mare  and  assisting. 

I  escaped  from  the  prison  about  the  8th  of  October,  and  was  captured  about  two 
days  afterwards  and  brought  back.  After  some  of  the  most  profane  abuse  from 
Captain  Wirz  that  I  ever  heard  from  the  lips  of  man,  I  was  ordered  into  the 
stocks.  I  was  fastened  at  the  neck  and  ankles  and  left  for  sixty-eight  hours  with 
out  any  food.  I  got  food,  but  I  heard  him  give  the  order  that  I  should  not  have 
any.  Comrades  who  were  paroled  stole  the  food  to  me.  I  have  seen  very 
many  in  the  stocks.  There  were  three  comrades  with  me  when  I  tried  to  escape, 
and  they  were  fastened  in  the  stocks  at  the  same  time  that  I  was.  I  have  seen 
men  in  them  for  various  offenses.  I  have  seen  one  man  put  into  the  stocks  for 
being  abused  by  a  Confederate,  and  because  he  had  manhood  enough  to  assert 
his  rights.  I  did  not  see  any  chain-gang  there;  that  was  before  I  arrived  there. 

TESTIMONY   OF   JOSEPH   D.    KEYSER. 

Joseph  D.  Keyser,  120th  New  York,  a  prisoner  from  February, 
1864,  testified  :2 

I  have  seen  Captain  Wirz  at  his  office.  I  have  frequently  heard  him  give  orders 
to  the  guard  to  shoot  anybody  who  passed  over  the  dead-line.  I  have  seen  men 
immediately  after  they  were  shot.  I  have  seen  the  sentinels  who  shot  them  im 
mediately  after  they  had  shot  them.  My  reason  for  supposing  they  had  shot  them 
was,  because  I  knew  of  no  fire-arms  being  in  the  hands  of  our  prisoners  around 
where  the  men  lay  who  were  shot.  In  one  instance — I  think  it  was  in  April  or 
May,  1864 — we  had  received  our  express-boxes  from  the  North,  and  some  of  the 

1  Record,  p.  88  et  seq. 

2  Record,  p.  95. 


250  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

men  had  thrown  out  under  the  dead-line  pieces  of  mouldy  bread  and  cake.  This 
man  had  one  hand  on  the  dead-line,  and  was  reaching  under  to  obtain  some  of 
those  pieces  of  mouldy  bread  or  cake  to  eat,  and  was  fired  on  by  the  guard  and 
shot  through  the  head.  He  was  killed  instantly.  He  was  on  the  north  side  of  the 
stockade;  his  body  lay  partly  under  the  dead-line  after  he  was  shot.  In  the 
other  case  I  did  not  see  the  man  shot,  but  I  saw  him  immediately  after  he  was 
shot.  He  was  brought  to  the  hospital;  he  had  been  shot  by  one  of  the  guard,  it 
was  said.  I  did  not  see  him  shot.  I  did  not  see  him  on  the  ground  before  he 
was  taken  up — not  until  he  was  taken  to  the  hospital. 

I  have  seen  a  pack  of  hounds  at  that  prison.  I  have  seen  Captain  Wirz  and  a 
man  named  Turner  bring  them  down  to  the  hospital  and  start  them  round  it,  to 
see  whether  they  could  find  the  trail  of  any  prisoner  who  had  escaped  during  the 
night  previous.  I  never  saw  them  attack  any  prisoner — I  never  saw  any  person 
who  had  been  bitten  by  them. 

As  a  general  thing  I  thought  that  Captain  Wirz  was  rather  overbearing,  and 
very  profane  and  abusive  in  his  language  toward  our  men,  on  the  slightest  provoca 
tion.  I  never  saw  him  buck  any  man — I  have  seen  men  bucked  by  his  orders.  I 
heard  the  orders  given.  I  have  heard  orders  given  for  men  to  be  bucked. 

Dr.  F.  G.  Castlen,  a  rebel  surgeon  on  duty  at  the  prison,  testified  :x 

I  saw  one  man  who  had  been  bitten  by  the  dogs.  I  saw  the  dogs  bite  him.  I 
saw  the  dogs  running  down  the  swamp  below  my  camp.  I  went  down,  and  when  I 
reached  the  brow  of  the  hill,  I  heard  the  dogs  baying;  going  down,  I  saw  this 
man  up  the  tree.  I  heard  some  one  order  him  down.  I  don't  know  who  it  was. 
He  came  down,  and  I  saw  the  dogs  seize  him.  Captain  Wirz  was  there  with 
the  hounds. 

The  prisoners  were  being  removed  to  Savannah  in  August  or  September.  I 
don't  know  which.  It  was  the  last  part  of  August,  or  the  first  part  of  September, 
I  think.  The  prisoners,  at  the  time  of  this  assault,  were  standing  in  front  of 
Captain  Wirz's  headquarters.  There  was  not  a  large  crowd  around  the  prisoners. 
I  did  not  see  a  large  crowd;  there  were  a  good  many  prisoners.  There  was  no 
disturbance  that  I  saw,  except  this  man  falling  out  of  ranks.  I  was  at  that  spot 
half  an  hour,  I  suppose.  Captain  Wirz  struck  the  man  with  his  right  hand.  I  do 
not  know  whether  Captain  Wirz  was  or  was  not  to  blame  for  the  awful  condition 
of  the  prison.  I  never  saw  any  other  acts  of  violence  by  Captain  Wirz,  excepting 
what  I  have  described.  I  never  knew  of  any  other. 

It  was  about  the  first  of  August  that  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  pursue  a  prisoner 
with  the  hounds.  He  was  between  quarter  and  half  a  mile  from  the  prison.  I 
did  not  see  him  set  those  dogs  on  that  man.  I  don't  know  who  set  them  on.  I  did 
not  see  him  in  the  water  up  to  his  knees  trying  to  prevent  the  dogs  from  biting  that 
man.  I  did  not  see  him  making  any  attempts  to  keep  the  dogs  from  biting  that 
man.  I  did  not  see  him  seize  that  dog.  I  was  from  twenty  to  thirty  feet  from 
him,  I  suppose.  It  was  woody  in  the  swamp,  but  not  outside.  The  man  was  in 
the  swamp.  When  he  came  down  from  the  tree  the  dogs  seized  him,  and  they  bit 
him  after  he  came  out  of  the  swamp.  I  do  not  know  that  Captain  Wirz  set  the 
dogs  on  him  after  he  came  out.  I  do  not  know  that  the  biting  of  the  dogs  was 

1  Record,  p.  108. 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  251 

accidental.  I  just  saw  them  bite  him.  The  dogs  were  common  fox-hounds.  There 
were  some  five  or  six  in  that  pack,  I  believe.  I  don't  think  I  ever  saw  that  pack 
but  once;  that  was  the  only  time.  I  know  of  no  other  pack  but  that  one. 

I  have  seen  the  prisoner,  Captain  Wirz.  I  do  not  know  what  his  duties  were 
officially  at  Andersonville.  I  saw  acts  of  cruelty  committed  by  Captain  Wirz  on 
one  or  two  occasions.  At  one  time  the  prisoners  were  being  removed,  I  think  to 
Savannah.  One  prisoner  was  out  of  the  ranks;  Captain  Wirz  jerked  and  struck 
him,  I  think,  once  or  twice;  don't  remember  how  many  times,  but  I  think  once  or 
twice. 

TESTIMONY   OF   ANDREW   J.    SPRING. 

Andrew  J.  Spring,  private  in  the  16th  Connecticut  Volunteers, 
was  taken  to  Andersonville  in  May,  1864.  He  testified  r1 

I  saw  the  hounds  exercised;  I  saw  them  several  times  when  they  were  taking 
men's  trails,  but  I  saw  them  one  time  when  they  caught  a  man;  I  think  it  was 
about  the  last  of  August  or  the  first  of  September  that  I  saw  a  man  who 
had  been  brought  in  by  Captain  Wirz,  and  this  man  Turner,  who  had  charge 
of  the  dogs.  The  man  was  bitten  very  badly.  Captain  Wirz  went  over  the 
Mil.  The  man  was  brought  around  by  the  bakery.  I  was  well  acquainted  with 
the  guard,  at  least  by  sight,  and  I  asked  him  where  the  man  was  caught.  He 
said  he  was  caught  over  here  by  Captain  Wirz  and  Turner,  the  man  who  had 
•charge  of  the  hounds;  that  the  man  was  in  a  tree  and  was  shaken  down  out  of  it. 

I  saw  a  chain-gang  there;  I  have  seen  them  every  day;  there  were  thirteen 
of  them  in  it  at  one  time;  they  were  in  two  ranks;  each  man  had  a  chain  and 
shackle  around  each  ankle,  a  chain  going  from  the  front  side  of  the  ankle  to  the 
next  one  before  him,  both  legs  shackled  so  that  they  could  step  but  eight  or 
ten  inches  at  a  time.  The  men  had  to  keep  step  with  each  other.  Each  man 
had  a  small  ball  (I  do  not  know  the  weight  of  it)  outside  the  leg,  which  he  had 
to  carry  in  his  hand  when  he  traveled,  and  also  a  64-pound  ball  to  every  four 
men.  There  was  a  large  shackle  around  the  neck  with  a  large  chain,  much 
larger  than  that  fastened  to  the  legs,  around  their  necks,  reaching  around  the 
-circle.  I  have  known  one  man  to  be  reduced  so  low  that  he  was  taken  from 
there  and  sent  to  the  hospital;  I  cannot  tell  his  name;  I  cannot  tell  what  date; 
he  was  taken  to  the  hospital  and  soon  after  died.  I  should  think  this  was  some 
time  about  the  middle  of  August.  These  men  were  put  in  the  chain-gang  for 
trying  to  make  their  escape. 

I  saw  a  man  shot  there.  I  never  saw  the  prisoner  give  orders  to  shoot  men. 
There  was  one  man  shot  there  on  the  loth  of  May,  from  the  first  sentry-box  next 
the  south  gate.  The  man  who  was  shot  was  inside  the  dead-line,  or  T  suppose 
he  was.  I  saw  the  man  shot  and  I  saw  him  after  he  was  shot.  I  was  on  the 
north  side  of  the  stockade.  I  saw  the  smoke  of  the  gun  and  went  directly  over. 
The  man  lay  inside  the  dead-line.  About  the  time  I  got  over  there  Captain 
Wirz  was  in  the  sentry-box  with  the  guard.  Directly  after  that  Captain  Wirz 
•came  inside  the  stockade.  He  drew  out  his  revolver  and  swore  he  would  shoot 
all  the  men  there  if  they  did  not  get  away  from  the  gate,  and  the  men  scattered. 
I  do  not  know  that  I  saw  any  communication  between  Captain  Wirz  and  the 

1  Record,  p.  112  et  seq. 


252  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

sentinel.  When  he  stood  in  the  sentry-box  he  was  close  to  the  sentinel;  the 
sentry-box  was  not  more  than  four  feet  square.  I  saw  another  man  shot  there. 
A  short  time  after  that — perhaps  six  or  eight  days — there  was  a  man  who  was 
asleep  under  his  blanket  in  the  middle  of  the  clay.  The  stockade  being  so 
crowded,  he  had  to  lie  near  the  dead-line.  This  man,  while  he  was  asleep  rolled 
over  under  the  dead-line.  As  soon  as  he  rolled  under  it  he  was  shot.  That  was 
in  May,  I  think,  from  the  20th  to  the  25th.  The  ball  went  into  his  back  and 
killed  him  instantly.  I  do  not  think  he  knew  what  hurt  him.  I  do  not  know 
his  name.  I  did  not  see  the  prisoner  at  that  place  then.  The  ball  struck  the 
first  man  I  spoke  of  in  the  temple  and  went  down  into  his  breast.  He  was 
taken  off  to  the  hospital,  which  was  then  inside  the  stockade,  and  he  died  on  his 
way  to  the  hospital.  He  was  not  a  sound  man;  he  was  a  cripple,  a  one-legged 
man. 

I  have  seen  our  darky  prisoners  hauled  up  there  and  receiving  from  fifty  to 
seventy-five  lashes  a  number  of  times;  [to  the  Court:]  I  mean  our  negro  soldiers. 
I  can  speak  of  one  of  them  in  particular;  one  of  them  was  sick  and  refused  to  go 
to  work.  The  man  who  had  charge  of  the  gang  at  that  time — I  forget  his  name- 
reported  the  matter  to  Captain  Wirz.  Captain  Wirz  came  along  and  ordered 
the  negro  to  be  taken  up  to  the  stocks  and  whipped;  I  forget  the'  number  of 
lashes  the  man  got;  I  saw  them  given  to  him.  I  believe  that  the  man  wha 
whipped  him  was  named  Humes;  he  was  generally  called  quartermaster,  but 
was  nothing  but  a  private  soldier,  as  I  understood,  to  issue  rations  from  the 
bakery  to  our  men -in  the  stockade.  He  used  to  go  in  with  the  wagon  and  issue 
the  rations. 

TESTIMONY    OF   NAZARETH    ALLEN. 

Nazareth  Allen,  a  rebel  soldier  on  duty  at  Andersonville,  testi 
fied:1 

I  have  seen  the  stocks,  and  seen  men  in  them;  I  have  seen  several  put  in  the 
stocks,  and  some  ten  or  twelve  in  the  chain-gang;  I  know  that  one  prisoner 
died  in  the  chain-gang  or  stocks ;  I  won't  be  certain  which,  but  I  think  in 
the  stocks;  I  think  it  was  some  time  in  August,  1864;  I  do  not  know  what  his 
sickness  was;  he  appeared  to  be  sick  when  I  saw  him;  I  saw  him  only  once  or 
twice,  and  afterwards  I  saw  him  dead;  I  don't  recollect  how  long  afterwards; 
I  was  passing  there  almost  every  day  for  several  days;  I  cannot  say  how  long 
he  was  confined  in  the  stocks;  there  were  several  in  the  stocks;  I  do  not  know 
why  this  man  was  placed  in  the  stocks;  I  think  it  was  for  trying  to  escape. 
The  stocks  were  between  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters  and  the  stockade,  on  the 
road  you  would  take  in  going  to  the  stockade. 

Once  I  saw  a  prisoner  step  out  from  the  ranks  to  speak  to  Captain  Wirz  for 
an  exchange  into  a  mess,  when  they  were  counting  them  out;  he  had  made  an 
agreement  with  one  of  his  fellow  prisoners  to  go  into  the  other  mess.  He  lacked 
one  or  two  of  getting  to  him,  and  he  stepped  out  to  speak  to  him.  Captain  Wirz 
ordered  him  back  and  threatened  to  shoot  him.  He  did  not  shoot  him;  he 
threatened  to  shoot  and  he  cursed  him. 

1  Record,  p.  117  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  253 

I  don't  know  how  many  hounds  there  were;  I  have  seen  about  eight  at  a 
time.  They  were  common  plantation  hounds;  they  are  hounds  trained  to  run 
people;  I  guess  these  dogs  were  trained  to  run  people;  they  ran  them.  I  did 
not  see  them  trained;  they  were  common-sized  dogs,  about  half  as  high  as  this 
railing  [about  four  feet  high].  They  were  common  hounds,  such  as  you  find  on 
all  the  plantations  of  the  South;  I  think  they  were  nothing  more  or  less.  They 
did  not  appear  to  be  particularly  ugly  or  savage,  more  than  a  common  hound, 
so  far  as  I  saw.  I  never  saw  them  pursuing  any  one;  I  have  heard  them  at  it; 
heard  them  crying  in  the  woods.  They  made  a  noise  like  a  hound;  I  cannot 
exactly  imitate  it.  I  have  seen  a  hound  pursue  game.  I  have  never  heard  them 
cry  in  the  same  way  when  they  were  not  pursuing  game  as  they  do  while  pursuing 
it.  There  is  a  particular  sound  when  they  are  pursuing;  I  cannot  describe  that 
particular  sound;  it  is  a  more  ferocious  sound  than  when  they  are  pursuing  in 
sport.  I  never  saw  a  man  bitten  by  those  dogs. 

TESTIMONY  OF  CAPTAIN  HEATH. 

John  F.  Heath,  a  rebel  officer,  testified:1 

I  reside  in  Macon,  Georgia.  I  have  been  in  the  Confederate  service.  In 
1861  I  was  in  the  20th  regiment  Georgia  Volunteers.  I  was  commissary,  with 
the  rank  of  captain.  In  April,  1864,  I  was  in  the  Georgia  Reserve  Corps.  I 
was  on  duty  at  Andersonville  from  May  till  October,  1864.  I  know  the  prisoner; 
I  have  seen  him  at  Andersonville.  I  understood  that  he  commanded  the  prison 
at  Andersonville.  I  never  received  any  orders  from  him  directly.  I  was  never 
on  duty  at  the  prison  but  one  day.  There  were  thirteen  prisoners  sent  over  from 
headquarters  to  be  ironed.  I  think  it  was  in  August;  I  was  officer  of  the  day. 
They  were  sent  over  to  me  from  the  provost  marshal's  office,  to  have  them  ironed; 
they  were  not  ironed  on  that  day;  I  think  on  the  second  or  third  day  afterwards 
twelve  of  them  were  ironed.  The  men  were  sent  over  under  guard,  with  an  order 
from  Captain  Wirz.  There  was  one  man  chained  in  the  gang  of  twelve,  who 
was  sick  at  the  time  he  was  chained.  I  could  not  say  to  my  certain  knowledge 
what  became  of  him.  I  know  that  I  saw  him  several  days  afterwards  very  sick; 
every  man  who  was  chained  with  him  objected  to  it.  The  man  had  the  diarrhoea; 
I  should  judge  so  from  the  looks  of  his  clothes,  and  he  was  very  lousy;  I  could 
see  from  a  distance  the  lice  crawling  over  him.  His  comrades  objected  to  being 
chained  with  him,  because  of  his  condition.  Their  objections  were  not  heeded; 
he  was  chained  with  them.  I  do  not  know  that  their  complaint  ever  went  to 
Captain  Wirz;  they  objected  to  being  chained  by  the  side  of  such  a  man.  He  was 
the  last  of  them  I  think  that  was  chained.  They  had  to  all  travel  at  the  same 
time  and  for  all  purposes.  I  cannot  say  to  my  certain  knowledge  what  became 
of  the  sick  man.  I  think  this  took  place  in  the  month  of  August,  1864. 

At  the  time  that  these  thirteen  men  were  to  be  ironed,  one  of  them  got  away; 
we  called  him  "Little  Frenchy" ;  a  hound  was  put  upon  his  track.  I  ran  down 
to  the  little  swamp,  between  a  quarter  and  a  half  mile  off.  Just  as  I  got 
to  the  swamp  I  heard  a  shot  from  a  pistol,  and  I  saw  the  man  in  a  tree.  Captain 
Wirz  came  up  and  ordered  the  man  to  come  down.  The  man  begged  the  dogs 
should  not  be  let  hurt  him.  He  made  the  man  come  down,  and  with  that  the 

1  Record,  p.  121. 


254  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

dogs  rushed  at  him.  I  could  see  the  dogs  run  up  and  grab  him  by  the  legs. 
Captain  Wirz  did  not  try  to  keep  the  dogs  off  from  the  man;  he  could  have 
done  so.  I  do  not  know  who  fired  the  pistol ;  I  only  heard  the  report.  The  prisoner 
was  sent  with  a  gang  two  days  before  to  be  chained.  He  was  not  chained  after 
wards.  I  saw  him  two  or  three  days  afterwards  in  the  guard  quarters,  without 
the  chains  upon  him;  I  saw  him  sitting  and  walking  about  in  there,  as  I  passed. 
I  did  not  notice  his  wounds;  I  was  not  near  enough  to  him  to  see  whether  he  had 
wounds  or  not. 

I  have  seen  Captain  Wirz  kick  two  or  three  prisoners.  I  cannot  tell  for  what 
reason,  except  that  he  got  a  little  excited.  At  one  time,  I  think  it  was  when 
they  were  moving  from  Andersonville,  I  saw  him  kick  a  prisoner.  To  the  best 
of  my  recollection  it  was  the  case  of  a  man  who  was  trying  to  get  out  of  a  squad 
to  which  he  did  not  belong.  I  think  it  was  in  September,  1864. 

TESTIMONY  OF  WILLIAM  DILLARD. 

William  Dillard,  a  rebel  soldier  on  duty  at  Andersonville,  testified  r1 

I  guarded  twelve  prisoners  in  the  chain-gang  one  day  and  night.  One  of  them 
was  sick  and  very  low,  and  had  to  run  out  every  five  or  ten  minutes,  and  the 
others  were  wanting  him  turned  out  of  the  gang  because  he  wanted  to  run  out 
so  much.  I  think  he  was  taken  out  about  dark.  I  cannot  say  how  long  he  had  been 
in  the  chain-gang.  I  know  he  was  in  from  the  morning  when  I  went  on  guard. 
He  was  in  a  sick  condition  all  that  day.  I  cannot  say  what  sort  of  a  day  it 
was.  It  was  in  August.  I  cannot  say  what  became  of  the  prisoner,  except  from 
hearsay.  I  do  not  know  where  he  was  taken  after  he  was  released  from  the  chain- 
gang.  It  was  all  the  man  could  do  to  stand  alone  when  he  was  taken  away  from 
there.  I  never  saw  him  after  that.  I  heard  what  became  of  him  from  some  of  the 
boys  next  day. 

Hounds  were  kept  there  to  catch  prisoners  trying  to  make  their  escape  and 
our  own  men  also.  I  saw  them  catch  a  man  called  "Frenchy."  I  was  walking 
my  post  and  I  suppose  some  300  yards  off.  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  and  Reid,  the 
provost  marshal,  and  the  man  with  the  dogs,  hunting  up  and  down  before  they 
started  on  the  man's  track.  After  a  time  the  dogs  got  on  the  trail  and  treed 
the  man,  and  after  that  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  come  down  and  heard  a  pistol  or  gun 
fired  and  saw  the  smoke  rise.  I  was  more  than  300  yards  from  where  they  were 
with  the  dogs.  I  heard  the  men  halloo  and  the  dogs  making  a  fuss.  I  saw  the 
smoke  rise  from  the  gun.  I  could  not  tell  from  what  person  the  smoke  seemed 
to  rise.  It  was  in  the  bushes  and  I  could  not  see.  I  could  not  say  whether  the 
man  was  hurt  by  the  dogs  only  from  hearsay.  I  saw  the  dogs  running  down 
the  branch  before  they  treed  Mm.  I  did  not  see  them  when  they  were  at  him 
at  all. 

I  have  seen  several  men  in  the  stocks.  I  have  seen  some  fastened  by  their 
feet  and  lying  exposed  to  the  heat  of  the  sun  and  to  the  rain.  I  saw  one  man 
fastened  by  the  neck  and  with  his  arms  extended,  who  had  no  hat  on ;  I  do 
not  know  how  long  he  was  in  there.  I  never  saw  any  one  in  the  stocks  when 
they  were  sick,  that  I  know  of. 

1  Record,  p.  124. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  255 

TESTIMONY  OF  CALVIN  HUNEYCUTT. 

Calvin  Huneycutt,  a  rebel  soldier,  testified  i1 

I  reside  in  Bibb  County,  Georgia;  I  was  in  the  Confederate  service  from  April, 
1864,  till  April,  1865;  I  was  on  duty  at  Andersonville  about  five  months,  I 
reckon;  I  went  there  in  May,  1864,  and  stayed  until  September  or  October,  I 
believe. 

I  know  Captain  Wirz;  I  have  heard  him  abuse  the  prisoners  and  draw  his 
pistol  to  shoot  them;  but  I  never  saw  him  shoot  any  one.  I  have  seen  him  kick 
them,  in  July,  I  believe,  for  not  standing  up  in  ranks,  when  Captain  "Wirz  was 
counting  them  off;  the  man  was  sick;  he  looked  like  it;  I  do  not  know  what 
was  the  reason  he  did  not  stand  up  only  that;  he  was  not  trying  to  escape.  I 
have  heard  Captain  Wirz  threaten  to  shoot  prisoners  at  the  time  he  drew  his 
pistol;  it  was  when  they  were  brought  there  to  be  put  into  the  stockade;  he  was 
counting  them  off.  There  was  one  who  did  not  stand  up  in  the  ranks,  and  the 
captain  drew  his  pistol  and  said  he  would  shoot  him  if  he  did  not  stand  upright; 
he  kicked  him  a  little,  not  much;  the  soldier  looked  sick;  I  do  not  know  what 
was  the  matter  with  him. 

I  recollect  the  man  they  called  "Frenchy"  trying  to  escape;  he  was  caught 
by  the  hounds;  I  saw  him  after  he  was  caught;  he  was  torn  by  the  hounds  pretty 
badly,  in  the  leg;  I  think  it  occurred  in  August;  I  do  not  know  whether  he 
was  put  in  irons;  I  saw  him  when  he  was  brought  up  to  Captain  Wirz's  head 
quarters.  Captain  Wirz  was  with  him,  as  well  as  I  can  recollect,  and  the  man 
who  kept  the  hounds ;  I  saw  where  the  hounds  tore  the  man ;  it  had  the  appearance 
of  a  dog-bite. 

I  guarded  the  prisoners  in  the  chain-gang  for  one  or  two  days  and  nights; 
I  do  not  know  how  long  the  men  were  kept  in  the  chain-gang  without  being 
relieved;  they  were  in  there  every  time  I  saw  them;  I  do  not  know  that  they 
were  exactly  the  same  men;  I  do  not  know  how  long  any  one  man  was  kept  in 
the  chain-gang;  I  have  no  idea;  they  were  kept  there  while  I  was  on  guard;  I 
was  on  guard  twice  a  day  and  a  night  at  a  time;  they  were  in  there  during  that 
time;  they  were  not  changed  during  the  time;  I  know  of  an  instance  where 
one  of  them  became  very  sick  in  the  chain-gang;  I  know  that  the  rest  of  the 
men  who  were  chained  to  him  complained  of  his  being  sick  and  wanted  him 
loosed,  he  bothered  them  so  much  in  going  out;  I  do  not  know  how  long  he  was 
kept  in  the  chain-gang,  nor  what  became  of  him.  I  did  not  see  the  chains  taken 
off;  I  do  not  recollect  any  others  confined  in  the  stocks  or  chain-gang  who  were 
sickly ;  I  think  that  one  of  them  had  six  men  in  it  and  the  other  had  twelve  in  it ; 
I  recollect  that  they  cut  the  chains  off  one  prisoner  and  he  got  away  one  night  and 
he  escaped,  but  they  caught  him  and  brought  him  back;  I  mean  the  man  himself  cut 
off  the  chains;  I  do  not  know  of  any  instance  when  the  rebel  authorities  had  to 
cut  off  the  chains  by  reason  of  their  affecting  the  prisoner. 

I  saw  one  of  the  prisoners  whipped;  I  did  not  count  the  strokes,  but  to  the 
best  of  my  knowledge  it  was  about  twenty-five  or  thirty.  I  do  not  know  who  it 
was  that  was  whipped;  he  was  a  white  man,  a  prisoner  of  war;  I  saw  a  man 
come  from  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters,  who  took  him  out  and  whipped  him; 


1  Record,  p.  127  et  seq. 


256  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSON VILLE. 

I  do  not  know  his  name ;  he  was  an  officer ;  the  whipping  commenced  right  straight 
away  after  he  came  out;  the  officer  walked  down  and  carried  the  man  off  with  a 
couple  of  guards;  I  did  not  hear  the  officer  say  anything  at  the  time.  He  did 
not  say  by  whose  order  the  man  was  to  be  whipped;  I  was  not  close  to  him;  I 
was  about  thirty  yards  away;  the  man  was  stripped  and  whipped  on  the  bare 
skin,  right  upon  his  back;  he  was  not  tied  up;  he  was  whipped  with  a  common 
size  hickory,  about  four  feet  long;  I  do  not  know  whether  it  was  green  or 
seasoned;  they  afterwards  carried  the  man  back  and  put  him  in  the  stocks;  I 
never  knew  what  they  did  with  him  after  that ;  the  man  had  blackened  himself 
and  tried  to  escape  with  the  darkies  when  they  went  in  carrying  rations;  I  do 
not  know  of  anything  that  was  said  at  that  time. 

The  prisoners  who  died  were  buried  in  a  trench,  side  by  side,  with  the  dirt 
thrown  over  them,  with  no  covering,  without  any  box;  I  should  judge  the  trench 
was  about  two  or  three  feet  deep;  I  was  standing  on  post  one  day  when  they 
were  taking  bodies  out;  they  had  been  there  so  long  that  when  they  were  brought 
out  and  put  in  the  wagon  they  burst,  something  broke  inside,  and  ran  out  of  their 
mouths  and  noses  and  smelled  very  badly. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JAMES  MOHAN. 

James  Mohan,  a  rebel  soldier,  testified  r1 

I  have  been  in  the  Confederate  service  only  as  a  private.  I  was  afterwards 
elected  a  second  lieutenant  in  the  3d  Georgia  Eeserves.  I  was  on  duty  at  Ander- 
sonville  for  about  five  months — May,  June,  July,  August,  September,  and 
up  to,  I  believe,  the  13th  of  October,  1864.  I  was  not  much  around  the  stock 
ade.  I  was  appointed  assistant  provost  marshal  for  a  time,  and  my  business 
was  with  my  own  men,  running  up  and  down  the  trains,  examining  passports, 
etc.  I  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  prison  except  sending  over  prisoners  that 
arrived  there,  and  prisoners  that  had  escaped  and  were  caught  and  brought  to 
the  provost  marshal's  office.  I  would  send  my  guard  over  to  Captain  Wirz's 
headquarters  with  the  prisoners  by  order  from  the  provost  marshal.  I  did  not 
receive  any  orders  at  all  in  regard  to  the  treatment  of  prisoners.  The  disposi 
tion  of  them  was  to  turn  them  over  to  Captain  Wirz;  that  he  had  sole  charge  of 
them.  I  received  orders  on  that  subject  from  the  provost  marshal.  He  was 
under  General  Winder.  Captain  Wirz  was  then  commander  of  the  inner  prison; 
he  had  charge  of  all  the  prisoners  that  came  down  there.  I  had  something  to 
do  with  putting  chains  on  prisoners.  The  prisoners  were  brought  from  Captain 
Wirz's  headquarters  to  the  provost  marshal's  office  by  a  guard.  The  provost 
marshal  ordered  me  to  take  charge  of  the  guard  up  to  the  blacksmith's  shop.  I 
went  up  there  with  the  prisoners  to  take  charge  of  the  guard,  and  to  see  also 
that  the  prisoners  got  their  irons  on.  There  was  a  verbal  order  on  that  subject. 
A  sergeant  of  Captain  Wirz  came  over  with  the  prisoners  from  his  office.  It 
was  to  see  that  these  men  had  balls  and  chains  put  on  them  and  linked  together 
with  a  sort  of  a  collar  around  their  neck  and  a  chain  attached  to  it.  I  took  over 
thirteen  men.  The  collars  were  not  ready  that  day  and  I  sent  the  men  over 
again  to  Captain  Wirz's  quarters.  I  told  a  lieutenant  under  me  to  take  them 
over  and  to  state  to  Captain  Wirz  that  the  irons  were  not  ready.  Those  were 

1  Record,  p.  130  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  257 

the  orders  I  received  from  the  foreman  of  the  shop — to  tell  Captain  Wirz  that 
the  irons  were  not  ready.  The  next  day  the  men  were  sent  over  there,  but  I 
did  not  take  them.  I  saw  them  coming  down  the  hill  with  balls  and  chains  on 
them,  linked  together. 

When  I  was  sending  the  prisoners  over  to  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters  a 
young  man  whom  they  called  "Frenchy"  escaped.  He  was  not  put  in  the  gang 
afterwards.  The  gang  consisted  of  twelve  men.  In  the  evening  "Frenchy"  was 
recaptured.  When  this  lieutenant  who  was  under  me  carried  the  men  over  it 
was  found  that  there  were  only  twelve  men.  Wirz  got  on  his  horse  and  rode 
over.  He  said:  "that  damned  Frenchy  has  escaped  again;  send  for  the  dogs." 
The  dogs  came  and  got  on  the  trail  of  him  and  recaptured  him  in  the  woods,  or 
rather  by  the  stream  that  ran  by  the  stockade.  Captain  Wirz  did  not  ride  off 
with  the  dogs;  he  got  off  his  horse  and  walked.  He  went  alongside  the  dogs; 
that  is,  when  the  dogs  got  down  across  the  stream,  the  dogs  went  one  way  and  he 
went  another,  along  with  Captain  Reed,  the  provost  marshal,  searching  for  this 
man.  I  was  standing  on  a  platform  at  the  depot  and  I  saw  where  he  stood,  and 
heard  the  howling  of  these  dogs  around  the  tree.  It  seemed  as  if  the  prisoner  was 
up  there.  I  did  not  see  him.  I  looked  around  again  to  see  where  Captain  Wirz 
was  and  I  heard  the  report  of  a  pistol  and  saw  the  flash.  I  should  judge  the 
flash  came  from  Captain  Wirz.  After  firing,  they  captured  the  prisoner  and  took 
him  to  the  guard  tent.  I  know  that  he  was  injured.  I  saw  him  a  day  or  two 
afterwards.  His  pantaloons  were  torn  on  the  leg  and  he  looked  sickly.  I  don't 
know  whether  his  flesh  was  torn;  I  did  not  see.  I  cannot  tell  why  he  was  not 
put  in  the  chain-gang.  I  heard  he  was  badly  bitten  from  some  of  my  brother 
officers  there,  after  the  affair  happened,  when  we  were  talking  about  it.  The 
dogs  were  common  hounds.  I  believe  there  were  a  couple  of  them  called  catch- 
dogs;  the  others  were  hounds.  The  technical  name  is  fox-hound.  They  call  some 
of  them  track-hounds  there.  I  believe  there  are  track-hounds  and  catch-dogs;  T 
am  not  much  acquainted  in  the  dog  line.  One  is  very  vicious  by  nature.  I  don't 
think  the  other  is  very  dangerous.  The  catch-dog  is  vicious. 

I  very  frequently  heard  Captain  Wirz  remark  that  he  wished  the  prisoners 
were  all  in  hell  and  he  with  them.  Sometimes  they  would  offend  him  or  some 
thing  like  that  in  his  office — he  would  say  it  if  any  prisoners  would  make  him 
angry  around  his  quarters  or  around  the  stockade,  or  anywhere  else  where  he 
was.  There  were  a  large  lot  of  paroled  prisoners  outside — four  or  five  hundred, 
I  presume.  I  did  not  hear  him  make  use  of  any  other  remark. 

I  was  officer  of  the  guard  when  I  first  went  down  there.  That  was  before  my 
assignment  as  assistant  provost  marshal.  I  received  instructions  from  Captain 
Wirz's  adjutant  at  the  stockade.  He  read  the  instructions  to  the  guard  and 
turned  the  papers  over  to  me,  or  when  I  was  relieved  the  next  morning,  to  the 
officer  who  relieved  me.  The  instructions  in  regard  to  the  dead-line  were  that 
we  were  not  to  allow  any  of  the  prisoners  to  cross  it ;  that  if  they  crossed  it  they 
were  to  be  fired  on  by  the  sentinels.  That  was  the  substance  of  the  instruc 
tions.  I  did  not  have  occasion  to  observe  the  condition  of  the  prison  very  well 
while  I  was  on  duty  there;  it  was  a  place  I  never  liked  to  go  into. 


258  THE  TJRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

TESTIMONY  OF  O.  S.  BELCHER. 

0.  S.  Belcher,  private  16th  Illinois  Cavalry,  was  a  prisoner  from 
March  until  September.  He  testified:1 

I  heard  Captain  Wirz  say  that  he  could  kill  more  Yankees  there  than  they 
were  killing  at  the  front.  I  suppose  he  was  excited  and  angry  with  some  of  the 
men  who  had  said  something  to  him.  He  got  so  at  the  last  that  he  dare  not  come 
over  on  our  side  of  the  prison  at  all.  He  could  not  come  unless  he  had  300  or 
400  men  with  him. 

I  saw  men  shot  on  the  dead-line  or  crossing  it;  I  have  seen  a  number  of  men 
shot.  I  have  seen  25  or  30  killed  in  that  way,  shot  in  different  places  around  the 
stockade;  some  were  over  the  dead-line,  and  some  were  shot  who  were  not  near  it. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JAMES  K.  DAVIDSON. 

James  K.  Davidson,  4th  Iowa  Cavalry,  was  a  prisoner  at  Anderson- 
ville  from  March,  1864.2 

Many  prisoners  died  in  the  stockade.  The  hospital  was  then  within  the  stock 
ade;  the  dead  men  were  carried  on  stretchers  out  to  the  gate,  and  from  there 
they  were  hauled  to  the  graveyard  in  wagons.  Part  of  the  time  I  was  employed 
outside  the  stockade  chopping  wood,  and  part  of  the  time  driving  a  wagon  from 
the  hospital  to  the  graveyard;  I  drove  a  wagon  to  the  graveyard  a  little  over  a 
week;  not  two  weeks,  I  think;  there  were  two  teams  of  us  driving;  we  would 
each  have  from  50  to  75  men  per  day;  we  would  throw  them  in  the  wagon  just  as 
we  would  wood;  sometimes  there  were  20  or  25  at  a  load;  we  drove  the  same 
wagons  back  to  the  stockade  loaded — sometimes  with  wood  for  the  prisoners, 
sometimes  with  rations.  We  would  go  by  way  of  the  depot  sometimes  and  get 
rations  in  the  same  wagon  in  which  we  carried  dead  bodies;  those  were  the 
orders,  I  believe,  from  the  quartermaster  or  the  man  who  had  charge  of  the 
teams ;  I  believe  his  name  was  Duncan ;  I  think  he  was  an  officer ;  he  had  charge 
of  the  cook-house. 

I  have  heard  Captain  Wirz  say  that  he  was  killing  more  damned  Yankees  there 
than  Lee  was  at  Kichmond.  That  was  said  in  August ;  he  was  in  my  wagon  at  the 
time;  I  had  been  to  the  graveyard  with  the  dead  men. 

I  have  seen  men  who  were  starved  to  death,  thousands  of  them,  inside  the 
stockade;  I  saw  men  eating  food  that  they  took  from  the  ground;  I  have  seen 
men  pick  up  and  eat  undigested  food  that  had  passed  through  other  men;  they 
would  find  it  all  through  the  camp;  it  came  from  men  who  were  not  able  to  go 
to  the  slough,  and  they  would  find  it  all  through  the  camp. 

I  saw  the  chain-gang;  I  have  seen  from  twelve  to  fourteen  men  in  the  chain- 
gang;  it  was  a  common  thing  to  see  the  men  in  the  chain-gang;  I  never  saw 
men  in  the  chain-gang  under  a  tent;  they  were  kept  out  in  the  hot  sun;  I  saw 
one  man  die  in  the  chain-gang;  I  believe  he  was  buried  with  the  iron  collar  round 
his  neck;  this  was  in  August,  I  think,  the  first  part  of  the  month;  I  do  not  know 
the  man's  name. 

1  Record,  p.  136. 

3  Record,  p.  140  et  seq. 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  259 

I  saw  hounds  there;  there  were  six  to  nine  that  I  saw  every  morning;  they 
were  used  for  catching  prisoners,  I  suppose;  they  had  them  after  t^em  several 
times;  there  were  two  kinds  of  dogs,  the  hound  and  the  catch-dog,  as  he  was 
called;  I  guess  he  was  a  bull  terrier  or  something  of  that  kind;  he  resembled  that 
somewhat;  I  don't  know  why  he  was  called  a  "catch-dog."  He  was  more  ferocious 
than  the  hounds;  I  saw  one  man  who  had  been  bitten  by  the  dogs;  he  was  bitten 
in  the  legs;  the  calf  of  his  leg  was  torn  and  pretty  nearly  off;  I  saw  Captain 
Wirz  there  at  the  time;  I  did  not  see  what  became  of  the  man;  I  don't  know 
whether  he  died  or  got  well;  I  do  not  know  his  name. 

I  saw  two  men  shot  there  by  the  guards;  I  do  not  know  the  names  of  either 
of  them;  it  was  down  on  the  east  side  of  the  stockade  near  the  branch;  the  man 
had  been  washing  his  clothes  and  was  hanging  them  on  the  guard  line  to  dry; 
one  of  the  garments  blew  over  the  dead-line;  he  reached  through  to  pick  it  up, 
when  the  guard  fired  and  shot  him;  I  think  it  was  the  last  of  March  or  the  first 
of  April,  1864.  The  other  case  happened  on  the  north  side  of  the  stockade;  the 
man  reached  through  the  dead-line  to  pick  up  some  crumbs  of  bread  that  had 
been  thrown  out  there,  and  he  was  shot;  he  was  killed.  The  other  man  was 
killed  instantly ;  he  was  shot  in  the  breast ;  the  second  man  was  shot  in  the  head ; 
I  do  not  know  his  name;  I  heard  shots  fired  of  which  I  did  not  see  the  effects;  I 
suppose  the  shots  were  fired  by  the  sentinels;  it  was  a  very  frequent  occurrence. 

No  conversation  at  all  led  to  the  remark  that  he  was  killing  more  Yankees 
than  Lee.  I  believe  that  same  morning  he  had  been  out  with  the  hounds  and 
caught  a  man.  He  told  me  he  was  killing  more  damned  Yankees  than  Lee  was 
killing  at  Eichmond.  That  was  all  that  was  said.  I  did  not  make  any  reply. 
I  did  not  say  anything  before  he  made  that  remark.  I  do  not  recollect  whether 
he  said  anything  to  me  before  he  made  that  remark.  It  was  just  a  sudden  out 
break  on  his  part. 

TESTIMONY  OF  P.  V.  HALLEY. 

P.  Vincent  Halley  testified:1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  72d  New  York 
Volunteers.  I  was  taken  prisoner.  I  was  at  Andersonville.  I  arrived  there  the 
first  or  second  of  March,  1864. 

I  heard  orders  about  putting  prisoners  in  the  stocks  or  the  chain-gang.  At 
one  time  when  some  prisoners  who  had  escaped  were  taken  to  Captain  Wirz's 
headquarters — I  was  there  at  the  time — he  ordered  the  men  to  be  taken  to  the 
forge  and  irons  put  on  their  feet. 

I  heard  Captain  Wirz  threaten  to  shoot  a  man.  I  think  it  was  in  May. 
Captain  Wirz  was  in  the  stockade,  and  one  of  the  men  did  not  fall  in  quick 
enough,  and  Captain  Wirz  drew  his  revolver  and  threatened  to  shoot  any  man 
who  did  not  fall  in  when  ordered;  sometimes  he  used  his  right  hand.  I  did  not 
know  at  the  time  that  anything  was  the  matter  with  his  right  hand;  he  used  his 
right  hand  as  frequently  as  his  left,  so  far  as  I  saw.  I  have  seen  him  use  his 
left  hand;  he  wore  his  revolver  on  the  left  side. 

I  saw  a  man  who  had  been  shot;  the  first  man  I  saw  shot  was,  I  think,  on 
the  10th  of  May;  I  am  not  certain;  he  was  shot  while  getting  some  water 

1  Record,  p.  159  et  seq. 


260  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

in  the  stockade.  The  guard  fired  on  him  and  shot  him  in  the  thigh,  I  think;  I 
do  not  know  the  man's  name;  it  was  on  the  10th  of  May,  I  think;  it  was  at  the 
creek;  I  cannot  say  positively  whether  he  died  or  not,  I  know  that  he  was 
severely  wounded;  part  of  his  body  was  over  the  dead-line;  he  was  leaning  over 
to  get  some  cleaner  water  than  was  in  the  stockade;  I  saw  one  man  in  August 
who  had  been  shot  through  the  brain;  he  was  carried  to  the  hospital;  I  do  not 
know  his  name;  he  was  entered  on  the  register  "unknown  dead."  Captain  Wirz 
was  not  present  at  the  time  I  saw  these  men  shot;  I  was  once  at  Captain  Wirz's 
headquarters  when  the  guard  was  there;  he  told  his  guard  that  the  first  man 
who  crossed  the  dead-line  to  shoot  him  down. 

I  knew  Captain  Wirz  there;  he  took  command  of  the  prison  about  two  weeks 
after  I  got  there;  I  heard  him  give  orders;  I  heard  him  one  time  send  for  the 
keeper  of  the  dogs  to  put  them  on  the  track  of  prisoners  who  had  escaped;  I 
saw  prisoners  who  had  been  bitten  by  the  dogs;  they  were  taken  to  the  hospital; 
they  had  been  recaptured  and  were  brought  in  there;  they  had  the  marks  of  the 
dogs  on  their  persons;  both  of  them  were  bitten  about  the  legs;  one  of  them  was 
bitten  severely. 

I  saw  cases  of  vaccination;  I  saw,  I  think,  about  150  cases  of  vaccination, 
and  in  many  of  them  after  vaccination  gangrene  set  in,  and  the  sores  were  about 
three  inches  in  diameter.  They  varied  from  an  inch  to  four  inches  in  diameter; 
in  some  instances  men's  arms  had  to  be  amputated  from  that  cause;  some  of  the 
cases  of  amputation  recovered  and  some  did  not;  I  do  not  remember  anything 
about  the  proportion  of  recoveries. 

TESTIMONY  OF  EDWARD  S.  KELLOGG. 

Edward  S.  Kellogg  testified  :x 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States.  I  was  in  the  20th  New 
York  Eegiment.  I  was  captured.  I  was  taken  to  Belle  Island.  From  thence  I 
was  taken  to  Andersonville.  I  arrived  there  the  1st  of  March,  1864. 

I  saw  the  cripple  they  called  "Chickamauga"  shot;  he  was  shot  at  the  south 
gate.2  He  was  in  the  habit  of  going  off,  I  believe,  to  the  outside  of  the  gate  to 
talk  to  the  officers  and  the  guard,  and  he  wanted  to  go  off  this  day  for  something 
or  other.  I  believe  that  he  was  afraid  of  some  of  our  own  men.  He  went  inside 
the  dead-line  and  asked  to  be  let  out.  They  refused  to  let  him  out,  and  he 
refused  to  go  outside  the  dead-line.  Captain  Wirz  came  in  on  his  horse  and  told 
the  man  to  go  outside  the  dead-line,  and  went  off.  After  Captain  Wirz  rode 
out  of  the  gate  the  man  went  inside  the  dead-line,  and  Captain  Wirz  ordered 
the  guard  to  shoot  him,  and  he  shot  him.  The  man  had  lost  his  right  leg,  I 
believe,  just  above  the  knee.  They  called  him  "Chickamauga."  I  think  he 
belonged  to  the  Western  army  and  was  captured  at  Chickamauga.  I  think  that 
was  in  May.  I  will  not  be  certain  as  to  the  time. 

I  saw  other  men  shot  while  I  was  there.  I  do  not  know  their  names.  They 
were  Federal  prisoners.  The  first  man  I  saw  shot  was  shortly  after  the  dead 
line  was  established.  I  think  it  was  in  May.  He  was  shot  near  the  brook,  on 


1  Record,  p.  161  et  seq. 
8  This 
murder. 


1  Record,  p.  161  et  seq. 

2  This  "Chickamauga"  case  is  mentioned  many  times  and  particularly  under  the  charge  of 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  261 

the  east  side  of  the  stockade.  Ai  that  time  there  was  no  railing;  there  was  simply 
posts  stuck  along  where  they  w«vre  going  to  put  the  dead-line,  and  this  man,  in 
crossing,  simply  stepped  inside  on 3  of  the  posts,  and  the  sentry  shot  him.  He 
failed  to  kill  him,  but  wounded  him.  I  doi/t  know  his  name.  I  saw  a  man  shot  at 
the  brook;  he  had  just  come  in.  He  belonged  to  some  regiment  in  Grant's  army. 
I  think  this  was  about  the  first  of  July  or  the  latter  part  of  June.  He  had  just 
come  in  and  knew  nothing  about  tie  dead-line.  There  was  no  railing  across 
the  brook,  and  nothing  to  show  that  there  was  any  such  thing  as  a  dead-line 
there.  He  came  into  the  stockade,  and  after  he  had  been  shown  his  place  where 
he  was  to  sleep  he  went  along  to  tht;  brook  to  get  some  water.  It  was  very 
dark,  and  a  number  of  men  were  there,  ana  he  went  above  the  rest  so  as  to  get 
better  water.  He  went  beyond  the  dead-line,  and  two  men  fired  at  him  and  both 
hit  him.  He  was  killed  and  fell  right  into  the  brook.  I  do  not  know  the  man's 
name.  I  saw  other  men  shot.  I  do  not  know  exactly  how  many.  I  saw  several. 
It  was  a  common  occurrence. 

I  saw  sanitary  stores  there.  While  I  was  in  the  hospital  I  saw  some  blankets 
and  some  pants  and  shirts;  I  think  very  few.  They  were  issued  to  the  men  in  the 
nospital — our  own  men.  I  saw  them  on  other  men  than  our  own  men.  I  saw  a 
pair  of  pants  on  a  rebel  at  one  time;  his  name  was  Dance. 

I  was  in  the  hospital.  I  went  into  the  hospital  August  6,  1864,  and  remained 
there  until  February  1,  1865.  I  was  bucked  six  hours  at  one  time  while  there. 
There  was  a  man  escaped  from  my  ward.  I  was  steward  of  the  17th  ward,  and 
I  failed  to  report  the  man  who  escaped.  Sergeant  Smith  came  round  and  called 
me  outside  the  gate  and  said  that  Captain  Wirz  had  ordered  him  to  buck  me  till 
dark.  This  was  about  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning.  He  proceeded  to  buck  me, 
and  I  was  left  there  till  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  There  was  another  man 
bucked  with  me;  his  name  was  William  S.  Wood,  belonging  to  the  120th,  and 
master  of  the  ward.  He  was  bucked  by  Captain  Wirz's  order. 

When  they  bucked  me  they  took  a  string  and  tied  my  wrists  together  in  the 
first  place;  they  sat  me  down  on  the  ground  next,  put  my  hands  over  my  knees 
and  put  a  stick  over  my  arms  and  under  my  legs,  my  hands  being  tied  together. 
I  never  saw  a  man  bucked  in  our  army,  and  I  have  been  in  the  service  four 
years.  I  have  heard  of  it.  I  had  no  squad.  I  was  steward  of  the  17th  ward  in 
the  hospital.  The  time  I  was  bucked  one  man  got  away.  Several  others  got 
away  afterwards.  They  failed  to  escape,  and  were  brought  back.  I  did  not  con 
sider  it  my  duty  to  report  them,  but  it  was  the  rule.  I  did  not  comply  with  the 
rule,  and  for  non-compliance  I  was  punished.  There  were  very  few  in  the  hospital 
that  were  able  to  run  away.  I  don't  know  whether  there  were  any. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JOSEPH  R.   ACHUFF. 

Joseph  R.  Achuff  testified  i1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  three  years  and  nine 
months.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersohville  about  six  months.  I  was  taken 
there  on  the  28th  of  March,  1864,  and  kept  there  until  about  the  middle  of 
August,  1864.  I  was  taken  from  Andersonville  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
in  August,  1864.  I  attempted  to  make  my  escape  while  at  Andersonville.  I 


1  Record,  p.  163  et  seq. 


262  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

was  recaptured  by  the  hounds.  Three  of  us  got  one  rebel  to  take  us  out  for 
wood.  We  gave  him  twelve  brass  buttons  to  take  us  out.  When  we  got  out 
about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  from  the  stockade  I  jumped  on  his  back  and  the  other 
boys  took  his  gun  from  him,  and  off  we  went.  We  went  to  the  Flint  River,  and 
crossed  it  five  times,  and  then  rowed  down  the  river  a  piece.  We  did  not  know 
the  hounds  were  after  us  until  we  heard  them  yell.  Then  we  scattered.  I  ran 
into  the  swamp.  The  first  thing  I  noticed  there  were  five  hounds  upon  me; 
seven  rebels,  armed,  came  up  on  horseback.  They  were  in  sight  at  the  time  the 
hounds  came  on.  They  never  took  off  the  hounds  for  about  fifteen  minutes,  and 
I  had  to  fight  the  hounds  with  my  fist.  I  had  not  even  a  club,  or  a  chance  of 
getting  one.  I  had  no  clothes  on  but  a  pair  of  pants  made  out  of  two  rebel  meal 
sacks.  I  was  bareheaded  and  barefooted.  I  fought  the  hounds  with  my  fists 
about  fifteen  minutes.  They  tried  to  catch  me  by  the  throat,  but  I  kept  them 
off.  They  caught  me  by  the  legs,  and  I  carry  the  marks  there  to-day.  One  of 
the  men  on  horseback  blew  a  horn,  which  called  the  hounds  off,  and  I  was 
marched  back  afoot.  I  was  taken  to  Captain  Wirz.  He  ordered  me  into  the 
stocks.  I  was  put  into  the  stocks  with  my  head  fastened  by  a  board,  and  my 
arms  stretched  out.  They  pretended  to  have  us  in  the  shade,  but  I  was  kept 
in  the  broiling  hot  sun.  For  thirty-six  hours  I  had  nothing  to  eat,  and  but  two 
drinks  of  water  out  of  that  dirty  creek.  When  I  appealed  to  Captain  Wirz 
about  it  he  told  me  to  dry  up,  or  he  would  blow  my  damned  brains  out,  that  I 
deserved  to  be  hung.  After  I  was  taken  out  of  the  stocks,  I  was  ironed.  I  had 
shackles  fastened  around  each  leg,  an  iron  ring,  and  a  bar  of  iron  between  my 
legs.  This  kept  my  legs  separated  about  eighteen  inches,  so  that  I  had  to  shuffle 
along.  There  was  nothing  done  to  cure  my  legs.  Scurvy  fell  into  the  wounds, 
but  still  I  was  kept  in  irons. 

Parties  going  into  the  stockade  with  each  other  would  become  separated  and 
lose  sight  of  each  other.  We  would  go  in  there,  and  when  the  "nineties"  would 
not  be  full  the  men  would  be  scattered  among  them  to  fill  up  these  "nineties." 
That  is  the  way  we  came  not  to  know,  half  the  time,  where  our  comrades  were. 
They  would  be  carried  off  to  the  hospital  or  carried  off  somewhere  else  and  we 
would  never  see  them  again.  The  stockade  was  the  filthiest  place  that  could 
be  imagined.  The  filth  was  fully  six  inches  deep.  When  I  went  in  there  it 
was  in  the  night  and  was  raining.  The  men  were  sitting  around  fires  that  were 
no  bigger  than  a  spittoon.  Maybe  there  would  be  a  dozen  men  crouching  over 
such  a  fire.  We  thought  they  were  all  negroes.  They  were  half  naked,  with 
no  shelter  and  with  nothing  to  eat.  Some  of  the  men  were  lying  out  doors  and 
some  were  lying  in  shelter  tents  on  the  ground.  If  they  had  a  blanket  they 
were  fortunate;  if  not,  they  lay  on  the  ground  without  any.  The  water  that 
ran  through  that  stockade  a  horse  would  not  drink.  It  was  the  filthiest  stuff, 
with  grease  upon  it.  I  complained  to  Captain  Wirz  and  asked  him  if  he  could 
not  stop  the  grease  from  the  cook-house  from  being  allowed  to  flow  in  there. 
He  said  it  was  good  enough  for  me.  I  made  that  complaint  about  the  latter  part 
of  June.  I  am  not  sure  about  the  month. 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  263 

TESTIMONY  OF  DANIEL  W.  BUSSINGER. 

Daniel  W.  Bussinger  testified:1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States.  I  was  in  the  10th  Penn 
sylvania  Eeserves.  I  was  captured  on  the  21st  of  May,  1864,  at  Spottsylvania 
Courthouse.  I  was  taken  to  Libby  Prison,  and  from  there  to  Andersonville,  Georgia. 
I  arrived  at  Andersonville  on  the  7th  of  June,  1864. 

Captain  Wirz  was  in  command  of  the  prison  when  I  went  there.  The  weather 
was  very  warm  when  I  got  there.  We  were  counted  off  in  front  of  Captain 
Wirz's  headquarters.  It  was  very  warm  weather  and  we  were  forced  to  stand 
out  for  four  hours  while  the  sergeant  called  the  roll  and  took  our  names.  Some 
of  the  boys  were  sun-struck  and  fell  down  and  we  volunteered  to  carry  them 
into  the  shade.  Captain  Wirz  gave  orders  to  the  guards  that  if  any  man  stepped 
out  of  the  ranks  he  was  to  be  shot;  at  the  same  time  we  were  in  want  of  water, 
but  they  would  not  give  us  any.  I  asked  some  from  one  of  the  guards,  and 
Captain  Wirz  gave  orders  to  the  guards  that  any  man  who  asked  for  water  would 
be  shot.  He  said  they  were  damned  Yankees  and  did  not  need  any  water.  When 
the  men  fell  down  and  fainted,  Captain  Wirz  said  that  if  it  lay  in  his  power 
he  would  make  the  victory  complete ;  that  the  men  who  fell  down  there  and  fainted 
deserved  to  die  there. 

I  heard  shots  fired  into  the  stockade  very  frequently.  I  have  heard  shots 
fired  over  the  stockade  by  men  outside  of  the  guards,  I  suppose.  They  were  not 
fired  at  any  person,  but  were  fired  over  the  stockade.  I  never  heard  Captain 
Wirz  give  any  orders  as  to  firing  into  the  stockade.  I  have  seen  men  shot  there. 
In  the  early  part  of  July  one  man  was  shot  down  there  at  the  run.  That  was 
the  first  case.  In  the  middle  of  July  a  man  was  shot  belonging  to  the  118th 
Pennsylvania  Volunteers.  I  am  not  able  to  give  his  name.  I  saw  him  shot.  He 
was  shot  at  the  run  getting  water.  He  was  killed.  Captain  Wirz  was  not  present. 
The  man  was  not  on  the  -dead-line;  he  was  getting  water.  The  water  that  came 
into  the  stockade  was  very  greasy,  and  the  man  wanted  to  get  the  best  water  he 
could,  and  in  doing  so  he  approached  too  near  to  the  dead-line  and  was  shot. 
That  was  the  first  instance  I  saw.  The  man  was  carried  to  the  south  gate  after 
he  was  shot.  He  remained  there  about  two  hours  and  was  then  carried  off  to  the 
dead-house.  The  prisoner  was  at  the  stockade  while  the  man  lay  there.  I  did 
not  hear  him  say  anything.  I  saw  a  man  shot  on  the  18th  of  July,  in  the  north 
east  part  of  the  stockade.  I  do  not  know  his  name.  He  belonged  to  the  118th 
Pennsylvania.  He  was  shot  through  the  hip;  he  was  lying  in  his  tent  at  night 
when  he  was  shot.  He  was  carried  out  next  morning  to  the  doctors,  and  I  saw 
him  lying  there  waiting  for  his  turn  to  be  carried  out.  He  was  not  dead.  I  am 
not  able  to  state  whether  he  died  or  not.  I  did  not  see  Captain  Wirz  there.  I 
saw  another  man  shot  by  the  dead-line.  I  cannot  say  at  what  time.  The  pris 
oner  was  not  present.  Captain  Wirz  was  present  when  the  first  one  was  brought 
up  to  the  south  gate  to  be  carried  out.  I  did  not  hear  him  make  any  remarks. 

The  men  were  very  emaciated.  I  have  seen  them  searching  for  food  that 
passed  through  men,  not  digested,  down  in  the  sink  and  in  the  marsh.  I  have 
seen  them  searching  in  the  filth  that  was  thrown  away;  they  would  pick  up 

1  Record,  p.  169  et  seq. 


264  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

anything  dropped  from  the  wagon  that  brought  the  rations,  bits  of  corn  bread, 
or  any  scraps  thrown  from  the  raiders'  tents;  anything  in  the  way  to  be  eaten 
was  picked  up  by  such  men.  I  have  seen  them  eat  this  undigested  food.  They 
would  wash  it  and  eat  it. 

Two  men  were  buried  inside  the  stockade  after  the  men  began  to  go  away. 
There  was  one  dead  man  who  lay  in  the  barracks  about  four  days.  He  became 
putrid  and  was  not  carried  out.  Whose  fault  it  was  I  do  not  know.  He  was 
buried  there. 

Another  man  was  buried  there  very  near  the  raiders'  tent;  I  saw  his  grave. 
I  am  not  able  to  state  why  these  men  were  buried  inside  the  stockade.  I  sup 
pose  the  one  who  died  up  at  the  barracks  would  have  been  carried  out  if  the 
men  had  not  gone  away.  That  was  the  only  way  we  could  get  wood,  and  when 
the  men  began  to  go  out  the  wood  became  plenty.  The  man  was  not  in  a  con 
dition  to  be  carried  out  when  he  was  buried;  his  body  was  decayed.  I  mean 
by  the  raiders'  tent,  the  tent  of  the  desperadoes  who  infested  the  camp  there, 
plundering  their  comrades  of  rations  or  anything  else  they  could  find.  They 
were  some  of  the  men  who  were  afterwards  hanged.  There  was  an  organized 
band  of  them  of  about  five  hundred. 

TESTIMONY  OF  H.  B.   TERRELL. 

Horatio  B.  Terrell  testified  :x 

I  was  in  the  United  States  service;  in  the  72d  Ohio  Infantry.  I  was  taken 
prisoner  on  the  12th  of  June,  1864,  and  was  taken  to  Andersonville  on  the  19th 
of  June,  1864.  I  have  often  heard  the  prisoner  use  violent  language  to  prisoners 
when  they  were  being  counted  off.  He  said  that  if  more  than  four  damned 
Yankees  got  into  a  rank,  he  would  make  four  out  of  them  very  quick.  I  re 
member  that  he  came  into  the  stockade  one  day  during  the  winter  and  one  of 
the  men  showed  him  his  rations  of  corn  bread,  and  asked  him  politely  if  he 
could  not  give  us  a  little  more.  Captain  Wirz  turned  around,  drew  his  pistol 
and  said,  "God  damn  you,  I  will  give  you  bullets  for  bread."  I  do  not  recollect 
in  what  hand  he  held  his  pistol.  I  presume  he  held  it  in  his  right  hand  from  the 
fact  that  if  he  used  his  left  hand,  I  should  have  remembered  it  distinctly. 

Our  rations  were  stopped  about  ten  or  twelve  days  altogether  when  I  was  at 
Andersonville,  not  continuously.  They  were  stopped  about  the  4th  of  July,  I 
think  for  two  days. 

A  good  many  sick  men  were  not  able  to  go  to  the  swamp,  and  had  their  com 
rades  dig  holes  for  them  by  the  side  of  their  tents.  In  this  way  a  good  deal 
of  the  ground  along  the  edges  of  the  tents  were  soon  perforated  with  these 
holes.  This  made  it  unhealthy  and  spoiled  the  water  to  some  extent  which 
was  in  our  wells.  The  whole  ground  in  the  swamp  was  perfectly  poisonous  from 
the  filth  and  urine  that  had  accumulated  there,  and  any  prisoner  having  the  least 
scratch  on  his  foot  and  going  there,  would  get  it  poisoned,  so  that  his  foot  would 
swell  up  and  would  gangrene  in  a  short  time.  Frequently  they  lost  their  limbs 
and  sometimes  their  lives. 

The  dead-house  was  at  the  hospital  during  the  first  part  of  the  time  I  was 
there.  I  carried  out  two  men  at  different  times  and  brought  in  wood  on  my  re- 

1  Record,  p.  171  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  265 

turn.  But  soon  afterwards  it  was  changed  and  put  nearer  the  stockade,  so  that 
we  only  had  to  take  the  dead  just  outside  the  south  gate,  and  that  cut  off  the 
supply  of  wood.  I  counted  forty-six  corpses  one  day  in  the  dead-house  at  the 
hospital.  After  they  moved  the  dead-house  nearer  the  stockade  I  saw  what  I 
should  judge  to  be  from  seventy-five  to  one  hundred  dead  men  lying  there  in  the 
sun.  I  have  seen  them  carried  away  in  wagons.  We  could  see  them  plainly 
from  the  interior  of  the  stockade  when  they  took  them  away.  About  every  day 
they  would  take  them  away.  One  man  would  go  to  the  heels  of  a  corpse  and 
the  other  to  the  head,  and  they  would  swing  him  into  the  wagon.  They  would 
pile  them  in  just  like  dead  hogs  from  the  slaughterhouses.  I  suppose  there  were 
eighteen  or  twenty  to  a  load. 

I  never  saw  any  articles  of  value  taken  from  the  prisoners  at  Andersonville. 
I  know  of  money  being  taken  by  the  guards  for  permitting  prisoners  to  go  out. 
There  was  money  taken  about  the  middle  of  March,  1865,  when  an  exchange 
apparently  was  agreed  upon.  The  rebel  sergeants  came  in,  and  Selman,  the 
rebel  sutler,  and  Mr.  Barr,  the  rebel  quartermaster,  and  they  told  the  boys  that 
if  they  would  give  so  much  money,  they  should  be  the  first  to  go  out,  and  those 
who  gave  money  were  the  first  men  who  were  taken  out  for  exchange.  Some 
that  I  know  of  paid  twenty  dollars  and  some  paid  less.  These  persons  were 
under  Captain  Wirz's  command.  They  were  in  every  day  to  call  the  roll.  These 
propositions  were  tolerably  open.  They  did  not  stand  up  and  proclaim  it,  but 
they  went  to  a  good  many  who  they  supposed  had  money  and  told  them  of  it. 
I  know  of  men  who  gave  money,  and  I  know  of  men  who  gave  a  lot  of  brass 
buttons  to  get  out.  I  do  not  know  of  the  prisoner  having  received  any  for  that 
purpose. 

TESTIMONY  OF  FRANK  MADDOX. 

Frank  Maddox  testified:1 

I  belong  to  the  35th  United  States  (negro  regiment).  I  was  at  Andersonville, 
Georgia,  as  a  prisoner.  I  was  there  about  eleven  months.  I  was  taken  there  April 
1,  1864.  I  left  there  February  2,  1865.  When  I  was  taken  there  I  was  put  in  the 
stockade  and  stayed  there  about  two  months,  until  my  wounds  got  well  enough 
to  allow  me  to  work.  I  was  then  taken  out  and  put  to  work.  I  was  wounded 
in  the  hip  and  foot.  I  was  wounded  at  Olustee,  Florida.  When  they  took  us 
out  of  the  stockade,  they  put  us  to  work,  pulling  up  stumps  around  the  stockade, 
cutting  wood,  and  doing  first  one  thing  and  then  another.  We  were  in  and  out 
until  the  2d  or  3d  of  September.  We  were  then  taken  out  and  put  to  burying 
the  dead.  I  did  not  assist  in  building  the  fortifications.  We  helped  to  enlarge 
the  stockade.  We  commenced  on  that,  I  think,  the  1st  of  June.  I  know  Cap- 
'  tain  Wirz.  I  heard  Captain  Wirz  make  threats  as  to  what  he  would  do  with 
us.  One  morning,  I  think  it  was  in  February,  they  sent  us  to  the  swamp  to 
ditch.  It  was  very  cold,  and  the  boys  did  not  want  to  go.  Captain  Wirz  told 
the  sergeant  in  charge,  if  we  did  not  go,  to  take  a  club,  and  kill  the  last  "damned 
one  of  us,  and  let  the  buzzards  eat  us."  I  am  speaking  of  the  colored  men. 
My  wounds  hurt  me  while  I  was  at  work;  they  had  not  healed  up.  I  did  not 
complain.  I  saw  no  use  in  complaining.  Those  who  did  complain  did  not  get 


Record,  p.  176  et  seq. 


266  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

anything  done  for  them.  I  heard  men  complain  to  Captain  Wirz  about  their 
sufferings  from  cold.  When  I  was  there  in  April  it  was  very  cold  and  we  had 
no  wood  and  nothing  to  lie  upon,  except  the  ground.  One  morning  the  sergeant 
asked  him  to  let  us  out  and  get  some  wood.  He  said  he  was  not  going  to  do 
it;  that  he  did  not  care  a  damn  if  we  all  died.  The  sergeant  intimated  to  us 
that  Captain  Wirz  gave  the  men  a  thirty  days'  furlough  every  time  they  shot  a 
Yankee.  He  would  never  treat  us  boys  as  Captain  Wirz  wanted  him  to  treat 
us.  He  wanted  him  to  be  whipping  us  and  knocking  us  about,  and  he  did  not 
do  it.  Captain  Wirz  ordered  him  to  do  it.  I  have  seen  him  many  times  when 
he  gave  the  orders.  I  looked  right  at  him  when  the  words  came  out  of  his  mouth. 
I  never  saw  colored  men  put  in  the  stocks  or  the  chain-gang.  When  they  wanted 
to  punish  them,  they  put  them  across  a  log  and  whipped  them  half  to  death  and 
put  them  back  to  work.  .  .  . 

Captain  Wirz  never  inflicted  any  punishment  of  any  kind  on  me  but  he  did 
on  others.  One  he  had  whipped.  I  was  up  at  his  office  in  the  morning  to  get 
an  order  for  rations  for  the  boys  who  would  be  out  at  work.  He  thought  I  was 
the  man  and  commenced  to  curse  me.  The  sergeant  told  him  I  was  not  the 
man,  and  called  up  Isaac  Hawkins  and  asked  him  what  he  had  been  doing.  He 
told  him  nothing.  Captain  Wirz  hauled  back  and  knocked  him  to  the  side  of  the 
tent,  and  told  Turner  to  take  him,  strip  him,  and  give  him  five  hundred  lashes, 
calling  him  "a  damned  Yankee  son  of  a  bitch."  They  gave  him  two  hundred  and 
fifty  lashes,  and  the  sergeant  who  was  boss  over  us,  and  counted  them,  told 
Turner  that  he  had  given  him  five  hundred,  when  he  had  only  given  him  two 
hundred  and  fifty.  The  man  was  then  loosed,  and  taken  to  the  blacksmith  shop, 
and  had  about  two  feet  of  chain  put  on  him,  and  was  sent  to  the  graveyard  to 
work,  being  told  that  if  he  stopped  five  minutes  during  the  day,  he  would  get 
two  hundred  and  fifty  more.  The  man  was  whipped  on  the  bare  back.  He  was 
stripped  naked  and  put  across  a  log,  and  they  whipped  him  from  his  feet  up  to 
his  head,  across  his  back.  They  whipped  him  all  over.  He  was  whipped  with  a 
leather  strap  about  as  wide  as  my  forefinger,  attached  to  a  staff  about  two  feet 
long. 

I  know  of  a  white  man  coloring  himself  and  trying  to  escape.  The  man  came 
out  in  the  morning  when  we  did.  He  had  blackened  himself  and  intended  to 
get  out  to  work  where  we  were,  so  that  he  could  get  a  chance  to  get  away.  They 
found  him  out,  and  Captain  Wirz  told  the  sergeant  to  take  him,  strip  him,  and 
give  him  thirty-nine  lashes  on  his  naked  back,  and  he  did  so.  He  then  ordered 
the  man  to  be  put  in  the  stocks.  Captain  Wirz  said  the  man  had  blacked  himself 
to  be  a  nigger,  and,  God  damn  him,  he  would  give  him  a  nigger's  law.  That  was 
thirty-nine  lashes.  He  was  whipped,  but  I  don't  know  whether  they  put  him  in 
the  stocks  or  not.  I  went  off  to  work. 

I  saw  twelve  men  in  the  chain-gang  for  about  a  week.  They  had  iron  collars 
on  their  necks,  and  the  chain  connecting  them  all  together,  a  ball  and  chain  on 
their  feet,  and  a  large  ball  in  between  every  four  men. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  267 

TESTIMONY   OF   JOSEPH   ADLEB. 

Joseph  Adler  testified  r1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  two  years  and  nine  months; 
I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville ;  I  was  there  from  about  the  middle  of  March 
to  the  8th  of  September,  1864;  I  know  Captain  Wirz;  when  I  was  captured 
there  were  seventy-one  of  us,  including  a  young  negro  boy;  all  that  is  left  is 
about  a  dozen  out  of  the  seventy-one. 

I  was  part  of  the  time  in  the  hospital  in  the  capacity  of  nurse;  I  cannot  state 
exactly  how  long;  I  think  it  was  two  or  three  months;  I  went  into  the  hospital 
in  the  month  of  June,  and  came  out  of  there  about  three  or  four  weeks  before 
we  left  Andersonville;  I  left  Andersonville  on  the  8th  of  September;  while  there 
I  had  opportunities  of  observing,  from  time  to  time,  what  was  going  on  outside 
the  stockade;  I  should  judge  the  sick  were  treated  pretty  badly;  the  majority 
of  the  sick  men  had  to  lie  on  the  bare  ground;  the  majority  of  them  had  no 
blankets;  they  had  nothing  to  lie  on  and  nothing  to  cover  themselves  with;  they 
had  hardly  any  clothing  to  cover  their  bodies  with,  and  most  of  the  time  the  food 
furnished  them  was  unfit  for  them  to  eat,  and  consequently  they  had  to  go  with 
out  anything  to  eat.  It  rained  twenty-four  days  in  June,  if  I  am  not  mistaken; 
I  know  it  rained  twenty  days  in  succession;  at  that  time  there  were  about  200 
men  lying  out  under  the  open  sky  without  any  shelter  whatever,  without  any 
bedding  or  blankets,  and  some  of  them  had  nothing  on  but  a  shirt  and  a  pair  of 
drawers,  and  there  was  no  medicine  at  the  time  to  be  given  them,  and  they  had 
no  attendance  whatever;  they  had  only  a  little  water,  and  all  they  had  to  eat  was 
a  little  corn-bread  and  rice  soup,  that  I  would  not  give  to  a  dog.  I  do  not  re 
collect  ever  seeing  Captain  Wirz  strike  or  kick  any  of  the  sick  or  anything  of 
that  kind;  I  have  heard  him  use  very  abusive  and  insulting  language. 

I  lost  a  friend  while  I  was  attending  the  hospital  there.  I  made  a  request  of 
Captain  Wirz  on  that  occasion.  There  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  Stevenson, 
who  belonged  to  the  2d  Massachusetts  Cavalry,  Company  A,  the  same  company 
that  I  belonged  to.  He  died  there.  He  had  respectable  clothes  on,  and  seeing 
that  he  was  a  friend  of  mine  whom  I  had  known  for  a  long  time,  I  did 
not,  as  I  usually  did,  take  off  his  clothes  and  give  them  to  the  living,  but  I  left 
them  all  on  his  body,  and  requested  Captain  Wirz  to  let  the  clothes  remain  on 
the  body,  and  he  told  me  he  would;  after  the  body  was  carried  out  of  the  hos 
pital,  Captain  Wirz  went  with  the  wagon,  and  two  Confederate  soldiers  took  the 
clothes  off  the  man  and  they  buried  him  stark  naked,  without  anything,  not  even 
a  shirt  on  his  body,  Captain  Wirz  did  not  make  use  of  any  expressions  at  that 
time,  that  I  can  recollect. 

I  heard  complaints  made  to  Captain  Wirz  with  regard  to  the  condition  of  the 
rations  and  other  things.  Before  I  was  detailed  to  go  into  the  hospital,  I  went 
to  see  a  friend  of  mine  who  was  in  another  part  of  the  stockade.  He  was  almost 
dead  with  diarrhoea,  in  fact  so  weak  that  he  could  hardly  get  up  alone.  He 
had  very  little  clothes  on,  only  a  shirt  and  a  pair  of  drawers,  and  he  had  to  lie 
on  the  ground  with  his  drawers  down.  He  was  not  able  to  go  to  the  place  where 
we  went  to  do  our  business.  I  and  seven  other  persons  had  dug  a  tunnel  in 

1  Record,  p.   181  et  seq. 


268  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

order  to  make  our  escape  if  we  could.  There  was  another  man,  a  Union  pris 
oner,  who  had  found  out  that  we  had  dug  the  tunnel  and  were  ready  to  start  that 
evening;  he  went  to  Captain  Wirz  and  told  Wirz  if  he  would  give  him  some 
thing  to  eat  he  would  tell  him  some  good  news.  The  captain  said  he  would, 
and  then  he  told  the  captain.  The  captain  came  in  with  six  Confederate  sol 
diers  and  filled  up  the  tunnel.  After  the  tunnel  was  filled  up  he  went  out  of  the 
stockade  and  came  right  back  again  on  a  gray  horse.  He  had  a  loaf  of  corn 
bread  in  his  hand,  and  as  he  went  past  the  sick  man  that  I  was  with  the  sick 
man  saw  him  and  got  up  as  well  as  he  could  and  said,  "Captain,  please  give  me 
something  to  eat,  a  piece  of  that  bread;  I  am  hungry;  I  have  had  nothing  to  eat 
for  two  days;  I  was  too  sick  to  go  and  get  my  rations,  and  there  was  no  one  to 
get  them  for  me."  The  captain  had  a  little  riding  whip  in  his  hand,  but  the 
end  of  it  was  rather  thick,  and  he  turned  round  and  struck  the  man  over  the 
head  with  it.  The  man  fell  right  on  the  ground  and  swooned  away,  and  it  was 
an  hour  before  he  came  to  himself  again.  The  next  day  he  was  carried  to  the 
hospital,  and  two  days  after  I  heard  he  was  dead.  Afterwards,  when  I  was 
detailed  in  the  hospital,  I  tried  to  find  him  out  but  could  not.  I  was  told  he 
was  dead. 

I  saw  men  in  the  stocks.  I  know  of  one  man  who  was  lying  senseless  in  the 
stocks  for  three  hours  before  they  would  take  him  out.  Captain  Wirz  was 
nowhere  to  be  found.  The  order  was  to  leave  him  in  till  Captain  Wirz  ordered 
him  taken  out.  The  captain  was  nowhere  to  be  found,  and  the  guards  did  not 
dare  to  take  him  out,  and  he  lay  five  or  six  hours  in  the  stocks  senseless  until 
Wirz  came  and  they  took  him  out.  He  was  in  there  for  trying  to  make  his 
escape. 

I  heard  Captain  Wirz  give  orders  to  the  guards  in  regard  to  the  dead-line. 
One  day  I  went  down  to  the  brook  to  wash  myself  all  over.  The  dead-line  which 
crosses  the  brook  was  torn  down,  and  there  were  two  or  three  men  reaching  out 
in  order  to  get  some  good  water,  because  the  water  was  rotten,  filthy,  muddy, 
and  greasy.  Captain  Wirz  was  at  the  sentry-box  with  the  sentry  looking  over 
the  stockade,  and  as  he  saw  the  men  just  dipping  their  hands  a  little  beyond, 
inside  the  dead-line,  he  asked  the  sentry  why  he  did  not  shoot  that  man;  he 
was  over  the  dead-line;  no  matter  whether  his  whole  body  was  over  the  dead 
line,  or  only  part  of  it,  it  was  his  business  to  shoot  him,  and  if  he  did  not  shoot 
him  he  would  have  him  punished.  The  sentry  put  up  his  musket,  aimed  at  the 
man,  and  shot  him  right  in  the  right  breast.  The  man  fell  into  the  water,  and 
we  dragged  him  out  and  took  him  up  to  his  quarters.  That  was  some  time  in 
the  month  of  July,  1864.  I  don't  know  what  day.  I  am  certain  I  recognized 
Captain  Wirz  by  the  sentry.  I  heard  his  voice;  I  do  not  know  what  the  result 
of  the  wound  was.  The  man  was  taken  to  the  hospital,  and  that  was  the  last 
I  saw  of  him.  The  ball  entered  the  right  breast.  I  do  not  know  if  it  passed 
through  him.  I  do  not  recollect  young  Brown  of  a  Pennsylvania  regiment.  There 
were  other  persons  witnessing  that  occurrence.  I  know  of  other  instances  of 
shooting  by  sentries.  There  was  a  man  by  the  name  of  "Chickamauga,"  a  cripple. 
I  saw  that  occurrence.  The  man  went  inside  of  the  dead-line.  He  was  a  kind 
of  idiot;  he  had  not  his  senses  at  all  and  the  boys  teased  him  a  good  deal.  He 
went  to  Captain  Wirz  and  asked  Wirz  to  let  him  go  out  of  the  stockade  because 


A  TYPICAL  SOLDIER  OF  THE  UNION,  THE  FIGURE  SURMOUNTING  THE 
CONNECTICUT    MONUMENT   AT   ANDERSONVILLE. 


270  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

the  boys  teased  him  so.  Captain  Wirz  would  not  let  him,  so  he  went  inside  the 
dead-line  and  some  of  us  tried  to  get  him  out  of  it  by  speaking  to  him,  but  he 
would  not  come  and  we  dared  not  go  inside  because  we  were  afraid  we  would  be 
shot  too.  Captain  Wirz  ordered  the  sentry  to  shoot  at  "Chickamauga."  The 
sentry  hallooed  to  him  first  and  told  "Chickamauga"  to  go  outside  of  the  dead 
line;  that  if  he  would  not  go  out  he  was  obliged  to  shoot  him,  and  "Chickamauga" 
would  not  go  out  and  then  Captain  Wirz  walked  up  to  the  sentry  and  asked  him 
what  he  talked  so  much  for,  why  he  did  not  take  his  musket  at  once  and  shoot 
the  man  down,  so  he  took  his  musket  at  once  and  shot  the  man  down  dead.  It 
was  about  six  weeks  after  I  went  into  the  stockade,  after  I  went  to  Anderson- 
ville.  I  cannot  state  exactly  what  time  it  was  because  sometimes. we  would  not 
know  one  date  from  another  there.1 

TESTIMONY  OF  W.   H.   JENNINGS. 

William  Henry  Jennings  testified  :2 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  8th  United  States 
Colored  Troops.  I  was  captured  at  Olustee,  Florida ;  I  was  wounded  there  through 
the  legs.  I  was  at  Andersonville  as  a  prisoner  nearly  a  year.  I  was  taken  in 
February,  1864.  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  while  I  was  at  Andersonville.  When  I 
got  off  the  cars  I  saw  him.  We  were  taken  up  to  his  quarters,  and  then  sent  to 
the  stockade. 

I  was  placed  on  duty  about  a  month  after  I  was  p'ut  in  the  stockade.  I  was 
set  to  digging  a  ditch  outside  the  stockade.  My  wound  was  then  bleeding.  I 
was  wounded  through  the  thigh  of  the  left  leg.  I  received  no  medical  attend 
ance.  My  wound  was  not  dressed  while  I  was  there.  I  was  not  employed  at 
the  graveyard,  nor  had  anything  to  do  with  the  dead.  I  could  not  walk. 

I  was  whipped  in  March,  1864.  I  got  thirty  lashes  by  order  of  Captain  Wirz. 
1  was  whipped  for  not  going  to  work  one  morning;  I  was  unable  to  do  so.  I  had 
caught  a  heavy  cold,  working  in  the  water  in  the  swamp.  My  wound  was  just 
the  same  as  when  I  had  been  wounded;  nothing  had  been  done  for  it.  The 
lashes  were  ordered  by  Captain  Wirz,  and  laid  on  by  Turner,  the  man  who  ran 
the  hounds.  The  whipping  had  no  effect  on  my  wound.  They  whipped  me  on 
my  bare  back.  They  made  me  bend  over.  Afterward  they  took  me  and  put  me 
in  the  stocks.  I  was  kept  there  a  day  and  a  night.  I  did  not  get  any  food  or 
drink  while  in  the  stocks.  After  that  I  was  taken  and  put  back  in  the  stockade. 
When  I  was  taken  down,  I  could  not  walk.  I  do  not  know  of  any  other  instance 
of  whipping,  only  what  I  have  heard.  I  never  heard  the  rebel  sergeant  give  any 
orders  with  regard  to  whipping. 

TESTIMONY  OF  D.  H.  STEARNS. 

D.  H.  Stearns,  private,  1st  Regiment  United  States  Sharpshooters, 
was  taken  to  Andersonville  as  prisoner,  July  8,  1864.  He  testified:3 

I  saw  the  chain-gang;  I  have  seen  from  eight  to  twelve  men  at  a  time  chained 
together;  I  saw  them  in  July  and  August,  almost  daily,  as  I  was  passing  from 

1  These  cases  may  be  considered  under  the  charge  of  murder. 
3  Record,  p.  187. 
*  Record,  p.  191. 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  271 

the  hospital  to  the  dispensary  for  medicine.  I  noticed  on  one  occasion  a  man 
who  was  very  feeble,  scarcely  able  to  stand;  the  gang  were  walking  at  the  time, 
and  those  nearest  him  had  to  assist  him  in  moving;  I  cannot  tell  what  became 
of  him;  I  was  told  he  died;  I  do  not  know  his  name;  it  was  in  August,  I  should 
think;  I  cannot  tell  certainly. 

I  saw  the  prisoner,  Captain  Wirz,  while  I  was  there.  I  saw  him  when  I  first 
arrived  there.  The  first  time  I  saw  him,  I  heard  some  person  cursing,  and  heard 
a  blow;  I  turned  around  and  saw  one  of  our  prisoners  who  seemed  to  be  recov 
ering  from  the  effects  of  a  blow.  I  saw  the  prisoner  standing  near  him.  I 
should  consider  from  the  motion  that  he  had  struck  the  man,  and  the  man  was 
recovering  from  the  effects  of  the  blow.  Captain  Wirz  was  still  cursing  him, 
telling  him  that,  if  he  did  not  stand  up,  and  stand  still,  he  would  shoot  him. 
At  that  time,  or  soon  after,  another  man  had  fallen  out  of  the  ranks,  being  unable 
to  stand  from  the  effects  of  the  heat,  and  Captain  Wirz  ordered  him  to  get  up 
and  get  into  the  ranks.  The  man  did  not  do  so  quickly,  and  Captain  Wirz  ordered 
one  of  the  guards  to  shoot  him.  The  guard  raised  his  musket,  but  the  man  got 
back  in  the  ranks.  When  he  threatened  to  shoot  his  man  if  he  did  not  stand  up 
in  the  ranks,  he  drew  his  revolver.  I  am  certain  that  he  used  his  right  hand, 
because  if  he  had  used  his  left  I  should  have  noticed  it. 

It  was  during  the  fore  part  of  August  that  I  saw  those  men  in  the  chain-gang. 
I  don't  think  I  saw  them  after  the  tenth.  I  saw  the  chain-gang  also  in  July, 
after  the  tenth.  Sometimes  they  were  the  same  men,  but  in  different  numbers. 
I  saw  them  nearly  every  day  from  some  time  about  the  10th  of  July  to  the  10th 
of  August.  They  were  near  the  southwest  corner  of  the  stockade,  outside,  not 
near  the  hospital, — between  the  hospital  and  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters.  I 
have  not  heard  the  description  of  other  witnesses  as  to  where  they  were.  I  have 
no  means  of  knowing  whether  it  was  the  same  lot  described  by  other  witnesses.  I 
have  noticed  changes  in  the  chain-gang;  a  difference  in  the  number.  I  have  seen 
as  many  as  twelve,  perhaps  more.  I  cannot  tell  what  day  it  was  that  I  saw 
twelve. 

TESTIMONY   OF    ALEXANDER   KENNEL, 

Alexander  Kennel  testified:1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  from  September  26,  1862, 
till  June  24,  1865,  in  the  7th  Ohio  Cavalry.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville 
from  February  27,  1864,  till  September  7,  1864,  and  from  December  25,  1864, 
till  April  19,  1865. 

I  know  the  prisoner,  Captain  Wirz.  I  have  seen  men  who  were  balled  and 
chained,  and  also  men  who  were  bucked  and  gagged  by  his  orders;  I  have  seen 
them  put  in  the  stocks.  One  special  act  which  I  know  of  occurred  last  February. 
In  that  case  a  man  was  taken  out  of  the  stockade  in  the  evening  about  4  o'clock, 
and  kept  in  the  stocks  all  night.  He  was  turned  into  the  stockade  the  next 
morning  at  nine  o'clock,  and  he  died  in  less  than  eight  hours.  He  died  in  the 
stockade.  He  was  apparently  as  healthy  as  any  of  the  prisoners  in  the  stockade. 
He  was  kept  all  night  in  the  stocks,  which  were  outside  the  stockade.  It  was 
supposed  that  he  died  from  the  effects  of  the  stocks.  It  was  a  very  cold  night. 

1  Record,  p.  193. 


272  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

I  talked  with  him  an  hour  before  he  died.  He  was  impressed  with  the  belief 
that  he  was  chilled  to  death  that  night  in  the  stocks.  He  did  not  expect  to  live, 
from  his  conversation.  He  did  not  eat  anything  after  he  came  into  the  stockade. 
He  told  me  that  he  was  kept  in  the  stocks  from  the  time  he  was  taken  out 
until  about  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning.  He  was  chilled  so  thoroughly  that  he  was 
insensible.  I  helped  to  carry  him  to  the  gate  after  he  died.  I  did  not  know 
his  name;  I  never  inquired  it.  He  belonged  to  a  Pennsylvania  regiment.  I  am 
certain  that  it  occurred  about  the  15th  of  February,  1865. 

In  one  case  I  had  a  conversation  with  a  man  in  the  hospital  who  had  been 
taken  out  of  the  chain-gang,  and  I  saw  his  body  carried  to  the  dead-house  three 
days  after  I  had  the  conversation  with  him.  He  told  me  in  that  conversatio?i 
that  he  had  not  been  able  to  walk  since  he  had  been  taken  out  of  the  chain-gang. 
He  died  in  the  hospital.  That  was  in  August,  1864.  I  cannot  tell  how  long 
after  he  had  been  taken  from  the  chain-gang  that  he  died.  It  was  about  the 
13th  of  August  when  I  had  this  conversation.  The  man  was  very  much  emaciated, 
and  was  sore  in  the  ankles  where  the  ball  had  been  put  on.  There  were  no  other 
marks  on  his  person,  that  I  saw.  I  can  speak  of  no  other  instances,  except  of 
men  whom  I  have  seen  confined  in  the  stocks  for  some  time. 

TESTIMONY  OP  L.  S.  POND. 

L.  S.  Pond  testified:1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  2d  New  York 
Heavy  Artillery.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville.  I  was  there  about  four 
months — from  the  28th  of  June,  1864. 

I  saw  the  prisoner  commit  acts  of  cruelty  towards  sick  men.  He  came  into 
the  stockade  one  day,  I  think  it  was  in  the  month  of  August  (I  had  a  memo 
randum  of  every  circumstance  that  happened,  but  I  lost  it;  I  never  tried  to  com 
mit  them  to  memory).  The  men  were  ordered  to  fall  into  ranks  to  be  counted  off. 
We  were  playing  what  we  used  to  call  "roots"  with  them.  That  is,  we  used  to  go 
into  three  or  four  different  squads  if  we  could,  so  as  to  get  an  extra  ration.  There 
was  a  very  sick  man  there  who  could  not  stand  upon  his  limbs,  and  Captain  Wirz 
ordered  him  to  fall  in  to  be  counted  off.  The  man  could  not  fall  in,  and  he  told 
him  so.  Captain  Wirz  kicked  him  three  or  four  times,  and  said:  "I  will  learn  a 
damned  Yankee  who  tries  to  'play  roots'  upon  me." 

TESTIMONY  OF  SIDNEY  SMITH. 

Sidney  Smith  testified  :2 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States.  I  was  in  the  14th  Con 
necticut  when  I  was  taken  prisoner.  I  was  taken  to  Andersonville.  I  was  there 
from  the  23d  of  May,  1864,  to  the  end  of  September,  1864. 

I  know  Captain  Wirz.  On  the  7th  of  September,  1864,  I  saw  him  knock  a  man 
down  with  a  revolver.  I  do  not  recollect  in  which  hand  he  held  the  revolver. 
The  soldier  was  taken  back  inside  the  stockade,  and  I  never  saw  him  since.  It  was 
the  day  the  prisoners  were  taken  to  Savannah.  I  belonged  to  the  eighty-ninth 
detachment,  and  tried  to  get  out  with  some  of  the  first  ones,  and  went  outside  for 

1  Record,  p.  195. 

a  Record,  p.  199  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  273 

that  purpose.  I  "flanked"  out.  There  I  heard  this  remark  from  Captain  Wirz, 
that  the  first  flanker  he  would  catch  he  would  shoot  him.  A  flanker  means  a  man 
going  into  a  wrong  detachment.  This  soldier  who  was  knocked  down  with  a 
pistol  was  out  there  with  a  detachment  to  which  he  did  not  belong.  The  roll  was 
called  and  he  was  left  out,  his  name  not  being  on  the  roll.  Captain  Wirz  knocked 
him  down  and  told  him  he  was  a  flanker,  and  he  was  sent  back  to  the  stockade. 

Complaints  were  made  about  our  rations  and  treatment.  I  have  signed  one 
letter  myself,  and  sent  it,  stating  that  we  suffered  a  great  deal.  It  was  dropped 
in  the  letter-box.  There  was  no  notice  taken  of  it.  We  never  received  any  answer. 
I  never  heard  Captain  Wirz  make  use  of  any  language  with  reference  to  it.  I 
never  spoke  to  him  myself. 

I  saw  prisoners  who  were  shot  by  sentries.  I  have  seen  a  man  shot  going  for 
water,  leaning  over  the  dead-line.  I  have  seen  the  sentries  fire,  and  I  afterwards 
saw  the  man  carried  from  the  place  wounded.  I  have  heard  sentries  say  that  they 
got  thirty  days'  furlough  for  shooting  prisoners.  My  tent  was  right  close  by  the 
dead-line,  and  I  asked  the  sentry  once  if  it  were  so,  that  they  got  furlough  for 
shooting  men.  He  said  yes,  they  got  thirty  days'  furlough.  Almost  every  time  a 
man  was  shot  the  sentry  was  relieved  and  taken  from  his  post.  The  corporal  of 
the  guard  would  come  up  and  inquire  what  the  firing  was  about,  and  would  bring 
another  man  and  would  relieve  the  sentinel.  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  at  sick-call.  I 
have  seen  him  standing  once  at  the  gate  when  the  sick  men  were  crowding  and 
pushing  at  the  dead-line.  Captain  Wirz  said  to  one  of  the  guards,  "Give  them 
the  bayonet,  the  damned  Yankees."  The  sentinel  did  not  charge  bayonet  on  them. 
At  that  time  I  saw  a  sentry  shoot  one  of  the  sick  men  at  the  gate.  It  was  in 
August,  1864;  1  cannot  state  the  date.  The  sick  men  behind  were  pushing  the 
men  in  front,  and  some  of  them  got  over  the  dead-line.  The  sentinel  stepped  back 
one  step  and  aimed.  One  man  thought  the  sentinel  aimed  at  him,  and  he  took  the 
gun  to  prevent  him  shooting  him)  at  the  same  time  the  sentry  fired  and  split  the 
man's  arm  open,  and  at  the  same  time  hit  another  man  in  the  hip.  I  did  not  see 
Captain  Wirz  there.  No  warning  was  given  to  prisoners  about  the  dead-line.  On 
the  23d  of  May  we  were  drawn  up  in  line  in  front  of  Captain  Wirz's  office,  and 
had  to  wait  there  for  about  three  hours  in  the  sun  until  he  came  to  count  us  off. 
All  that  time  the  rebel  soldiers  would  not  dare  to  give  us  water.  We  asked  for 
water,  and  they  said  they  had  orders  not  to  give  us  any.  Captain  Wirz  came  and 
made  us  fall  in  and  counted  us  off  in  detachments.  I  never  was  told  about  the 
dead-line,  and  when  I  saw  it  I  thought  it  must  be  just  a  pleasure  walk  for  the 
prisoners  to  exercise  in.  I  was  not  there  half  an  hour  before  I  was  told  what  it 
meant. 

TESTIMONY  OF  WILLIAM  GROUSE. 

William  Grouse  testified:1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  7th  Penn 
sylvania  Reserves.  I  was  taken  prisoner  on  the  5th  of  May,  1864.  I  was  taken 
to  Lynchburg,  where  I  stayed  two  weeks,  and  from  Lynchburg  to  Andersonville, 
where  I  arrived  on  the  20th  of  May,  1864.  I  stayed  there  till  the  15th  of  Sep 
tember,  1864. 

1  Record,  p.  217. 


274  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

I  knew  the  prisoner  there.  I  saw  him  knock  a  man  down.  I  cannot  tell  the 
man's  name.  That  was  in  July,  1864.  Captain  Wirz  knocked  him  down,  that  is 
all.  I  did  not  hear  him  say  anything.  He  just  knocked  him  right  down.  That 
man  was  a  Union  prisoner.  That  is  all  I  know  about  it. 

I  saw  men  in  the  stocks.  I  saw  them  in  July  and  August,  1864.  I  saw  a  man 
die  the  day  after  he  came  out  of  the  stocks.  I  do  not  know  his  name.  It  was 
about  July,  1864.  I  should  judge  he  had  been  in  the  stocks  about  two  weeks.  I 
saw  him  die.  He  died  in  the  next  tent  to  me. 

I  do  not  know  of  any  event  that  transpired  about  that  time  by  which  I  can  fix 
the  date  of  that  man  dying,  who  had  been  in  the  stocks.  I  remember  seeing  six 
men  hung  there.  They  were  hung  on  the  13th  of  July,  1864.  It  was  two  or 
three  days  before  that. 

TESTIMONY  OP  JAMES  E.  MARSHALL. 

James  E.  Marshall  testified:1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  42d  New 
York.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  from  the  latter  end  of  February,  1864, 
up  to  September,  1864.  I  often  saw  Captain  Wirz  while  I  was  there.  I  suppose 
I  know  him. 

I  know  of  prisoners  being  shot  by  the  guards.  The  first  instance  I  saw  was  at 
the  northeast  corner  against  the  hospital.  It  was  at  the  time  the  dead-line  was 
being  marked  out,  but  it  was  not  then  finished.  I  saw  a  man  shot  there.  It  was 
in  the  early  part  of  April.  'I  saw  the  man  shot  by  the  sentry.  The  mark  of  the 
dead-line  was  there,  but  the  rail  was  not  nailed  on  the  top.  The  sentry  did  not 
say  anything  at  the  time.  The  man  died  afterwards  in  the  hospital.  He  was  a 
sick  man  in  the  hospital  then.  He  was  not  a  German.  I  recollect  an  instance 
where  a  German  was  killed.  He  passed  me,  and  when  he  had  got  about  five  yards 
from  me  he  was  shot  by  the  sentry.  That  was  at  the  northeast  part  of  the  stock 
ade,  in  the  month  of  May,  1864,  I  believe.  The  man  had  laid  his  left  hand  on 
the  dead-line,  and  stooped  on  his  knee  to  pick  up  a  piece  of  mouldy  bread  that 
was  within  the  dead-line,  when  the  guard  shot  him.  The  ball  passed  through  his 
back.  It  killed  him  dead.  The  sentry  said  something  about  a  furlough.  When 
the  man  fell  he  was  not  outside  of  the  dead-line,  and  some  of  us  made  the  remark 
in  the  camp  that  that  guard  would  get  a  furlough  for  shooting  the  man.  The 
sentry  said  he  would  damned  soon  have  another  one;  that  he  would  shoot  some 
more.  Captain  Wirz  came  up  and  we  had  to  go  away.  When  Captain  Wirz  heard  the 
firing  of  the  gun  he  would  often  come  up.  He  told  the  sentry  to  make  the  pris 
oners  go  away  from  there;  they  had  gathered  around  the  man  after  he  was  shot. 
The  sentry  was  relieved. 

When  Captain  Wirz  first  came  to  take  charge  of  the  camp  he  was  forming  the 
men  into  detachments,  and  they  did  not  fall  into  ranks  properly  according  to  his 
wishes.  He  stopped  the  rations  that  day.  They  had  not  had  rations  since  the 
day  previous.  That  was  in  the  early  part  of  April,  when  Captain  Wirz  first  came 
to  the  camp;  the  first  time  I  saw  him. 

I  saw  the  dogs  at  Andersonville.  They  were  kept  for  hunting  men  who  escaped 
from  the  prison.  I  know  of  their  hunting  men.  I  saw  one  man  who  was  torn. 

1  Record,  p.  252. 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TEEATMENT.  275 

His  leg  was  torn.  He  afterwards  died  in  the  hospital.  That  was  in  May,  1864.  I 
cannot  state  the  day  of  the  month.  It  was  some  time  in  the  latter  part  of  May.  I 
know  that  the  man  was  bitten  by  the  dogs,  because  I  and  several  others  looked  at 
his  leg.  He  was  taken  to  the  hospital.  I  afterwards  saw  the  man,  but  he  was 
dead  when  I  saw  him.  He  died  from  the  wounds.  He  died  some  twenty  days 
after  he  was  bitten.  He  died  some  time  in  the  early  part  of  June,  in  the  hospital. 

TESTIMONY  OF   W.   M.   PEEBLES. 

William  M.  Peebles,  a  rebel  soldier  at  Andersonville,  detailed  as  a 
clerk:  Some  of  his  testimony  has  already  been  quoted.  He  testified 
further  i1 

I  saw  several  men  in  the  stocks.  I  did  not  learn  their  names.  They  were  Fed 
eral  prisoners.  I  was  passing  around  one  day  during  a  hard  rain,  and  I  saw  a 
prisoner  in  the  stocks.  He  seemed  to  be  near  drowning.  I  rode  up  and  put  an 
umbrella  over  him.  I  passed  up  to  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters  and  told  him  that 
the  prisoner  was  there  and  might  drown.  He  remarked,  "Let  him  drown,"  using 
an  oath.  His  words,  as  well  as  I  remember,  were  "Let  the  damned  Yankee  drown ; 
I  don't  care."  In  a  few  minutes  some  one  from  his  headquarters  went  down  and 
released  the  prisoner — took  him  out  from  the  stocks.  It  was  during  a  very  hard 
rain.  The  man's  head  was  kind  of  erect,  and  it  was  raining  down  in  his  face. 
He  looked  as  though  he  would  drown.  That  was  what  caused  me  to  make  the  report. 

TESTIMONY  OF  W.  W.  CRANDALL. 

W.  W.  Crandall,  private  in  the  4th  Iowa  Infantry,  testified  :2 
I  saw  hounds  used  about  there.  They  were  not  what  I  would  call  fox-hounds; 
they  were  rather  heavier,  I  should  think,  but  I  am  not  well  posted  enough  in 
dogology  to  tell  you  what  kind  of  dogs  they  were.  They  were  called  hounds ; 
there  were  two  kinds,  however.  I  saw  there  three  different  packs.  One  or  two  in 
each  pack,  I  think,  they  were  more  of  a  bulldog.  They  called  them  catch-dogs.  I 
have  seen  the  dogs  there,  and  have  seen  men  brought  in  by  them.  Some  of  the 
men  were  bitten  considerably.  I  saw  one  man  with  the  calves  of  his  legs  torn 
badly.  He  was  a  Union  prisoner.  I  cannot  now  recollect  his  name.  He  belonged 
to  the  same  detachment  as  I,  but  not  to  my  ninety.  He  was  brought  in  there  and  a 
ball  and  chain  put  upon  each  foot.  He  was  kept  in  that  condition  several  weeks. 
He  was  kept  there  until  I  went  to  Captain  Wirz  and  pleaded  with  him  to  take  the 
balls  off.  He  said  to  me  that  he  could  not  do  it.  I  then  watched  for  the  surgeons, 
and  when  one  of  them  came  in  one  morning  to  examine  the  sick  I  asked  him  to  take 
the  balls  off.  He  went  with  me  and  examined  the  man.  The  man's  leg  had  be 
come  badly  swollen  and  very  blue.  It  had  a  bluish  putrified  look.  I  told  the 
Burgeon  that  I  thought  the  man  would  die  unless  the  balls  were  taken  off.  He 
said  he  could  not  conscientiously  take  off  but  one.  He  did  allow  one  to  be  taken 
off.  The  man  finally  died,,  as  I  supposed.  I  buried  a  man  whom  I  thought  I 
recognized  as  the  same  man,  but  he  was  so  badly  emaciated  that  I  might  be 
mistaken,  but  I  think  I  was  not.  The  man  escaped,  I  think,  about  the  1st  of 

1  Record,  p.  254  et  seq. 

2  Record,  p.  256  et  seq. 


276  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

May.  He  was  brought  back  the  next  day,  I  think;  it  may  have  been  the  next 
day  but  one.  Those  balls  and  chains  were  put  on  at  once  and  kept  on  him  for 
perhaps  three  weeks,  then  they  took  one  ball  off.  He  retained  the  other  when  I 
was  taken  outside,  on  the  23d  of  June.  Then  about  the  middle  of  July  (it  might 
have  been  the  last  of  July;  I  cannot  fix  the  date,  but  it  was  some  time  from 
the  middle  to  the  last  of  July,)  I  buried  a  man  whom  I  recognized,  or  thought  I 
recognized,  as  the  same  man.  I  examined  the  body  particularly  because  several  of 
us  were  acquainted  with  him,  and  we  all  thought  he  was  the  same  man. 

I  buried  dead  at  Andersonville.  I  assisted  in  burying  the  dead  from  June  23, 
1864,  until  September  8th.  I  was  detailed  for  that  duty.  It  would  be  pretty  hard 
to  tell  the  number  of  prisoners  that  I  buried  who  had  been  shot,  because  it  became 
so  common  a  thing  that  we  did  not  fix  the  number.  I  should  say  at  least  thirty, 
possibly  forty,  and  it  may  be  more.  I  cannot  tell  the  exact  number.  I  am 
speaking  of  the  period  from  June  23d  to  September  8th.  The  bodies  would  be 
brought  in  and  the  remark  would  be  made,  "Here  is  another  man  shot."  It  became 
so  common  an  occurrence  that  I  did  not  take  any  notice,  so  that  I  cannot  speak 
as  to  the  number.  I  would  see,  during  those  months,  all  that  were  shot,  that  were 
buried.  I  might  not  hear  of  them.  The  duty  I  was  doing  was  covering  up  the 
dead.  I  became  so  accustomed  that  I  paid  little  attention,  and  unless  some  remark 
was  made  to  call  my  attention,  I  might  not  see  them. 

I  know  of  a  man  being  put  in  the  stocks  for  asking  to  see  his  brother.  His 
name  was  Austin;  he  was  paroled  in  the  same  squad  I  was.  I  was  on  the  banks 
of  the  railroad  when  a  lot  of  prisoners  came  in.  This  man  Austin  made  the 
remark,  "There  is  a  brother  of  mine;  I  am  going  to  see  him."  He  went  down  to 
the  squad,  and  I  saw  him  a  short  time  afterwards  in  what  we  call  the  "spread- 
eagle  stocks."  He  was  there  from  two  to  four  hours.  That  was  in  the  latter 
part  of  July.  I  asked  another  man  who  was  there  what  it  was  for,  and  was  told 
it  was  for  asking  to  see  his  brother.  The  man  had  told  me  that  was  what  he  was 
going  for.  I  do  not  know  who  ordered  the  man  to  the  stocks,  no  further  than  what 
I  have  stated.  The  stocks  in  which  that  man  was  placed  were  just  above  the 
south  gate  of  the  stockade.  They  were  the  ordinary  stocks.  There  were  two 
kinds  of  stocks  there,  but  they  were  both  near  together.  There  were  what  we  called 
the  foot  stocks,  and  also,  as  the  boys  termed  them,  the  "spread-eagle"  stocks,  which 
held  a  man  by  his  ankles,  his  neck,  and  his  hands. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JOHN  FISHER. 

John  Fisher  (colored)  testified:1 

I  am  a  soldier  in  the  United  States  army.  I  am  in  the  8th  United  States 
Eegiment.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville.  I  was  taken  on  the  20th  of  Feb 
ruary,  1864,  and  taken  there  in  May,  1864.  I  received  very  bad  treatment  there. 
I  was  bucked  and  gagged,  and  whipped  with  thirty-nine  lashes.  I  was  bucked  be 
cause  I  would  not  go  to  work.  Captain  Wirz  ordered  me  to  be  whipped;  so  the 
man  said  who  was  in  charge  of  the  squad.  He  went  to  see  Captain  Wirz,  and  when 
he  came  back  he  said  Captain  Wirz  ordered  me  to  be  whipped.  He  gave  me  thirty- 
nine  lashes.  This  was  in  October,  1864.  I  was  bucked  and  gagged  at  the  same 
time.  That  was  the  only  time.  I  have  seen  the  prisoner  there  many  a  time.  I 

1  Record,  p.  279  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  277 

saw  him  draw  a  pistol  to  shoot  a  prisoner  named  George  Brown.  He  was  going 
after  some  shovels,  and  could  not  run  as  fast  as  Captain  Wirz  wanted  him.  Cap 
tain  Wirz  drew  his  pistol  and  said  if  he  did  not  run  he  would  shoot  him.  I  saw 
no  others  whipped  there.  I  saw  others  after  being  whipped.  They  were  Isaac 
Hawkins,  Abe  Woodward,  and  George  Washington.  That  was  in  September.  Two 
of  them  were  whipped  at  the  graveyard.  I  was  not  present  when  they  were 
ordered  to  be  whipped.  I  did  not  see  them  while  they  were  being  whipped.  I  just 
saw  them  after  they  were  whipped.  They  had  marks  upon  them  of  the  strap  with 
which  they  had  been  whipped.  They  were  not  badly  whipped;  the  blood  was  not 
drawn. 

TESTIMONY  OF  J.  H.  GOLDSMITH. 

John  H.  Goldsmith  testified:1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  14th  Regi 
ment,  Illinois  Infantry.  I  was  taken  prisoner  on  the  4th  of  October,  1864,  at 
Atwood,  Georgia;  I  arrived  at  Andersonville  on  the  llth  day  of  October,  and 
remained  there  until  the  18th  day  of  March,  1865.  Captain  Wirz  was  in  command 
of  the  prison  all  the  time  I  was  there. 

On  or  about  the  1st  of  March,  1865,  Captain  Wirz  put  me  in  charge  of  the 
rations  to  be  issued  to  the  prisoners  inside  of  the  stockade,  and  to  the  paroled  men 
outside.  I  had  charge  of  the  rations  up  to  the  time  I  left  the  prison.  The  rations 
consisted  of  half  a  pound  of  meal  of  very  poor  quality,  half  a  pound  of  beef,  half 
a  pound  of  peas  and  two  gills  of  molasses.  The  ration  of  molasses  was  on  each 
alternate  day,  and  of  beef  the  same  day.  When  they  took  the  beef  and  molasses 
together,  there  was  one  quarter  of  a  pound  of  beef  and  one  gill  of  molasses.  The 
beef  was  very  poor ;  some  called  it  "jackass."  It  was  salt ;  we  got  some  fresh  once 
or  twice  a  week.  It  was  poor  meal,  with  cob  and  grain  all  ground  together.  [The 
sample  of  meal  produced  by  De  la  Baume  was  here  shown  the  witness.]  That  is 
just  the  quality  of  meal,  as  a  general  thing.  Captain  Wirz  used  to  give  me  the 
orders  always  for  drawing  rations,  when  I  had  charge  of  the  rations.  He  used  to 
make  out  tickets  for  me  to  draw  from  Captain  Armstrong.  I  drew  what  he  made 
out  the  tickets  for.  The  ticket  specified  the  articles  and  the  quantity — it  limited 
the  rations.  The  rations  issued  to  our  prisoners  was  just  one-half  the  quantity 
issued  to  the  rebel  troops.  There  were  three  days  there  that  he  increased  the 
rations  of  meal  and  of  peas  to  one-fourth  pound  per  day.  At  the  end  of  three 
days  he  put  the  ration  back  to  the  old  standard  again.  He  said  the  Yankees  were 
getting  too  damned  saucy,  and  that  he  would  bring  them  to  their  milk. 

I  was  out  on  parole  most  of  the  winter,  from  the  21st  of  November,  1864,  until 
the  time  I  left.  My  duties  outside  the  stockade  were  writing  for  Captain  Wirz. 
Part  of  the  time  I  attended  to  the  death  list,  making  out  the  records  of  the  pris 
oners.  I  had  no  particular  duties  assigned  to  me,  but  to  assist  in  writing.  The 
death  list  was  the  list  of  those  who  died  each  day  in  prison.  I  was  engaged  in 
that  duty  every  morning.  I  recorded  the  names  of  those  who  were  shot.  I  did  not 
keep  the  causes  of  death  there,  but  merely  stated  the  day  they  died,  without  stating 
the  disease.  I  have  had  to  write  out  orders  for  Captain  Wirz  to  punish  men — orders 
to  the  guard  to  fire  upon  them  in  case  any  of  them  attempted  to  speak  to  the  guard. 

1  Record,  p.  298  et  seq. 


278  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

There  were  orders  issued  for  the  discipline  of  the  prison,  warning  men  not  to 
attempt  to  speak  to  the  guard,  as  they  had  got  orders  to  fire  upon  them  if  they  did 
so.  I  have  heard  verbal  orders  given  to  rebel  sergeants  to  punish  those  who  had 
command  of  detachments  inside  in  case  they  failed  to  report  any  man  that  was 
missing.  They  were  to  be  punished  by  being  placed  in  the  stocks  or  by  being 
bucked  and  gagged. 

I  have  heard  Captain  Wirz  say  he  was  doing  more  good  there  than  if  he  were 
in  the  field,  and  that  he  could  whip  more  men  than  Johnston's  army  could.  He 
did  not  make  that  statement  more  than  once  that  I  recollect.  That  was  made 
about  the  latter  part  of  January,  1865.  I  cannot  recollect  fiis  saying  "killing"; 
he  said  he  could  whip  more  men. 

I  have  seen  orders  signed  by  the  prisoner  in  relation  to  furloughs.  I  made  out 
a  furlough  once  for  a  man  who  killed  one  of  our  own  men;  he  received  a  furlough 
for  thirty  days.  His  name  was  Scott;  he  belonged  to  the  4th  Georgia  Keserves. 
The  man  he  killed  was  Henry  Lochmire,  belonging  to  some  Pennsylvania  regiment, 
I  cannot  recollect  what  regiment.  It  was  in  the  latter  part  of  February,  1865. 

TESTIMONY  OF  JASPER  CULVER. 

Jasper  Culver  testified:1 

I  was  connected  with  the  1st  Wisconsin  Infantry.  I  was  captured  at  Chicka- 
mauga  and  taken  to  Richmond  and  Danville,  and  afterwards  to  Andersonville.  I 
arrived  at  Andersonville  on  the  16th  of  March,  1864. 

I  know  the  prisoner.  I  saw  him  frequently.  When  I  first  arrived  at  the  prison 
it  was  in  charge  of  a  man  named  Selman.  At  least  I  saw  him  counting  off  squads 
and  seeming  to  have  a  great  deal  to  do  there.  Soon  after  I  went  there  Captain 
Wirz  came  there  and  took  charge.  I  first  saw  him  come  into  the  stockade  with 
Selman  in  the  evening.  Selman  gave  his  orders  to  the  men  to  fall  in  the  next 
morning  in  four  ranks.  Next  morning  they  beat  roll-call  and  we  fell  in  as  he 
directed.  Captain  Wirz  came  and  counted  us  off  in  detachments  of  270  men, 
and  divided  these  into  nineties,  appointing  a  sergeant  over  each  ninety.  He  then 
gave  his  orders  not  to  break  ranks,  to  remain  in  ranks  until  he  got  through  counting 
the  prisoners.  We  did  not  stay  in  ranks,  except  for  some  time,  as  we  supposed  we 
were  all  through.  I  was  down  towards  the  gate  afterwards,  about  noon,  and  heard 
Captain  Wirz  going  about  using  rough  language.  He  said  we  should  not  receive 
any  rations,  and  he  would  learn  us  to  stand  in  ranks  as  we  were  ordered,  and  we 
did  not  receive  rations  that  day.  That  was  the  first  day  that  he  took  command. 
I  saw  him  shortly  afterwards  when  he  was  counting  off.  I  was  standing  near  by 
and  happened  to  be  looking  towards  him.  A  man  seemed  to  be  walking  past  him, 
and  Captain  Wirz  turned  around  and  struck  him  three  or  four  times  and  knocked 
the  man  down.  I  saw  the  man  afterwards.  He  seemed  to  be  quite  sickly  and 
delicate.  He  could  hardly  walk.  Some  time  after  that  rations  were  stopped  from 
the  northern  side  of  the  stockade.  That  was  some  time  in  April,  1864,  I  think. 
Next  day  he  came  over  and  said  he  would  give  us  rations,  (I  was  on  the  south 
side,)  but  that  the  fellows  on  the  north  side  would  not  get  rations  because  they 
did  not  do  as  he  had  ordered  them  to  do.  He  said  that  they  had  broken  ranks,  and 
he  would  not  give  them  any  rations;  and  he  did  not. 

1  Record,  p.  301  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  279 

I  was  not  kept  in  the  stockade  all  the  time  I  was  there.  I  was  put  on  duty  in 
the  bakery  on  the  29th  of  June,  1864.  That  was  the  bakery  on  the  stream  just 
above  the  stockade.  My  duties  there  were  to  unload  the  meal  that  came  there 
and  carry  it  into  the  bakery,  and  also  to  load  the  bread  into  the  wagons  for  the 
stockade.  The  meal  was  generally  very  coarse,  as  if  it  was  ground  cobs  and  all. 
Other  sacks  seemed  to  be  very  good  meal.  A  great  many  sacks  came  there  in 
which  the  meal  was  mouldy  and  wet,  as  if  it  had  been  stored  in  a  damp  place. 
Some  of  it  would  come  in  large  mouldy  chunks  of  meal.  Sometimes  it  could  not 
be  used  at  all.  It  was  not  used.  It  was  just  thrown  out  by  those  who  were 
making  it  up. 

[The  sample  of  meal  exhibited  by  De  la  Baume  was  here  shown  to  the  witness.] 

That  is  a  fair  sample  of  a  large  portion.  There  were  sometimes  some  sacks 
better  than  .that,  but  very  seldom.  It  was  generally  of  that  quality.  I  have 
sometimes  noticed  sacks  coarser  than  that.  I  used  to  help  in  loading  the  bread 
into  the  wagons.  The  bread  was  baked  in  cakes  about  eighteen  inches  long,  ten 
inches  wide  and  two  inches  thick,  made  of  this  meal.  Ten  of  those  loaves  or 
"cards"  were  sent  out  to  a  detachment  of  two  hundred  and  seventy  men  for  one 
day.  There  was  some  baked  in  larger  pans,  about  two  and  a  half  feet  long,  fifteen 
inches  wide  and  two  inches  thick,  made  of  this  meal.  There  were  four  or  four  and 
a  half  of  them  sent  to  each  270  men.  They  were  generally  very  poorly  baked. 
The  center  of  them  was  almost  always  raw.  They  never  could  be  baked  properly. 
Those  large  "cards"  that  were  baked  in  the  night  and  sent  in  in  the  afternoon 
frequently  became  sour  and  stringy;  it  became  stringy  from  the  sour  dough  and 
the  heat  of  the  bread,  and  it  was  impossible  to  eat  it. 

I  saw  the  chain-gang.  When  I  first  went  outside  of  the  stockade  on  the  29th  of 
June,  1864,  I  saw  twelve  men  in  the  chain-gang  chained  together  under  guard. 
Next  morning  they  came  down  to  the  bakery  to  wash.  I  gave  them  some  water 
and  pails  to  wash  and  also  carried  their  rations  to  them  from  the  bakery.  I  saw 
them  almost  every  day  for  over  a  month  or  six  weeks  that  they  were  together. 
They  were  placed  in  two  files  with  a  thirty-two  pound  ball  chained  to  each  outside 
leg  of  the  file  on  the  right  side  and  on  the  left  leg  of  the  left  file.  Then  they 
were  chained  with  what  seemed  to  be  two  100-pound  balls,  at  least  they  called 
them  100-pounders.  There  were  three  men  of  each  file  with  chains  attached  to  each 
one  of  these  100-pound  balls.  They  had  also  a  band  of  iron  riveted  around  each 
man's  neck,  and  a  chain  attached  from  one  man  to  another.  In  that  condition 
they  were  kept.  I  believe  there  were  six  men  in  each  file.  The  file  leaders  were 
not  attached  to  the  other  file.  If  one  man  moved  the  whole  twelve  had  to  move. 
One  of  the  file  leaders  was  very  poorly  and  seemed  as  though  he  could  hardly  carry 
himself  without  carrying  ball  and  chain;  those  in  the  gang  with  him  complained 
about  his  being  sick.  He  caused  a  great  deal  of  trouble  by  reason  of  his  having 
diarrhoaa,  and  they  all  had  to  go  with  him  whenever  he  was  called.  I  afterwards 
saw  this  sick  man  out  of  the  chain-gang,  but  he  had  the  ball  upon  his  legs,  also 
the  band  upon  his  neck.  He  afterwards  died  in  the  guard-house.  I  saw  our  men 
who  were  on  parole  take  the  irons  off  him  after  he  was  dead.  He  was  taken  from 
the  chain-gang,  but  the  32-pound  ball  was  left  upon  his  leg  and  the  band  upon  his 
neck,  and  they  were  left  upon  him  until  he  died.  I  think  he  died  three  or  four 
days  after  he  was  relieved  from  the  chain-gang.  I  think  he  died  some  time  in 


280  THE  TBAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

July.  I  do  not  know  his  name  or  his  regiment.  I  never  made  inquiries  about  it. 
I  think  the  same  occurrence  was  testified  to  by  one  witness.  I  think  I  heard  a 
different  one  testified  to,  although  I  do  not  recollect  of  any  other  occurrence  of  a 
man  dying  in  the  chain-gang  but  this  one.  I  heard  these  men  complain  to  us  who 
had  been  out  on  parole  that  he  was  a  great  trouble  to  them. 

I  have  often  seen  men  in  those  stocks  that  are  spoken  of.  I  have  seen  men  in 
them  very  frequently.  I  never  knew  of  men  dying  in  the  stocks.  It  was  a  common 
occurrence  to  see  men  standing  in  those  stocks,  and  also  men  lying  down  in  the 
stocks  that  were  made  to  hold  men  in  that  way.  They  had  to  lie  upon  their 
backs  with  their  feet  about  a  foot  from  the  ground;  they  lay  in  that  position  all 
day  in  the  sun.  I  know  of  one  man  in  particular;  he  was  a  man  who  used  to  drive 
one  of  the  wagons  that  drew  rations  into  the  stockade.  He  also  used  to  help  draw 
the  dead  with  the  same  team.  This  man,  for  something  or  other,  was  put  in 
there.  I  saw  him  lying  on  the  ground  all  of  one  day  in  the  sun.  I  cannot  think 
of  his  name,  although  I  did  know  it. 

I  do  not  recollect  "Chickamauga's"  name.  I  recollect  hearing  them  say  he  be- 
belonged  to  the  96th  Illinois.  I  was  at  my  tent  and  saw  a  crowd  around  the 
gate.  I  walked  down  towards  the  gate  and  saw  Captain  Wirz  on  his  gray  horse 
inside  the  gate.  I  walked  up  towards  the  crowd.  Just  as  I  got  there  Captain 
Wirz  came  to  the  gate  and  I  asked  him  what  the  trouble  was,  and  he  said  that 
the  boys  were  having  some  fun  with  "Chickamauga."  I  turned  around  to  go  back 
towards  my  tent,  when  I  heard  the  report  of  a  gun  and  saw  the  guard  just  draw 
ing  back  his  musket  and  I  saw  the  smoke  of  the  gun.  I  turned  around  to  go  back 
again  near  the  dead-line,  and  saw  this  cripple  lying  just  inside  the  dead-line.  He 
seemed  as  if  he  was  not  quite  dead;  he  was  writhing  in  the  agonies  of  death.  I 
turned  with  some  of  the  boys  who  took  him  up  and  were  conveying  him  to  the 
hospital.  I  walked  along  with  them  and  looked  at  him.  After  I  got  some  distance 
away,  I  looked  around  and  saw  Captain  Wirz  upon  the  sentry-box  with  the 
sentry.  I  did  not  hear  anything  said  or  any  remarks  made  by  him  to  the  sentinel. 
I  went  off  to  my  tent  pretty  thoroughly  disgusted. 

I  heard  Captain  Wirz  make  a  remark  with  reference  to  what  he  was  doing 
there.  He  was  just  inside  the  gate  one  day;  there  was  quite  a  crowd  there  talking. 
I  heard  one  of  the  boys  making  the  remark  that  he  would  rather  be  at  the  front 
with  Sherman  or  Grant  than  to  stay  there.  Captain  Wirz  made  the  remark  that  he 
was  doing  more  for  the  Confederate  government  there  than  any  general  in  the 
field,  and  he  made  some  other  remark  which  I  did  not  hear  distinctly.  It  was  just 
inside  the  gate. 

TESTIMONY  OF  J.  L.  YOUNKER. 

John  L.  Younker  testified  r1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  12th  United  States 
Infantry.  I  enlisted  March  31,  1862,  for  three  years.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Ander- 
sonville  from  June  16,  1864,  to  September  12,  1864. 

I  know  about  the  use  of  hounds  there  for  pursuing  and  capturing  prisoners. 
There  was  a  man,  I  suppose  about  fifty  years  of  age,  who  was  in  charge  of 
twelve  bloodhounds;  whenever  he  was  on  duty  he  always  rode  on  a  mule.  He 


1  Record,  p.  315  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  281 

generally  went  round  the  stockade  every  morning,  and  if  he  found  the  track  of 
any  prisoners  he  went  in  pursuit.  There  was  one  man,  belonging  to  an  Indiana 
regiment,  who  was  taken  sick  and  sent  to  the  hospital.  From  the  hospital  he  tried 
to  make  his  escape;  he  was  recaptured  by  the  bloodhounds  and  sent  back  to  the 
stockade  in  the  evening.  He  had  an  acquaintance  in  the  next  hole  to  mine.  The 
man's  right  ear  was  almost  off;  he  was  bitten  in  several  places  in  the  legs. 
He  was  all  scratched,  and  had  hardly  any  clothing  on.  I  took  a  piece  of  my  old 
dirty  shirt  and  helped  to  tie  up  his  wounds.  Then  he  gave  up  to  a  friend  of  his  a 
likeness  of  his  mother  which  he  had,  and  said  that  he  should  send  her  this  if  he 
should  never  recover,  because  he  believed  he  would  die.  The  next  morning  he 
was  dead.  He  gave  this  picture  to  one  of  my  comrades.  He  was  a  resident  of 
the  northern  part  of  Ohio,  and  he  said  that  the  man  should  deliver  the  picture  to 
his  mother,  as  he  should  never  recover,  that  he  should  die.  In  that  same  con 
versation  he  said  something  as  to  how  he  had  been  injured.  We  questioned  him, 
and  he  replied  in  a  feeble  voice  that  he  had  got  about  thirty-five  or  forty  miles, 
and  was  strongly  pursued  by  the  hounds;  that,  as  he  was  very  weak,  coming  out 
of  the  so-called  hospital,  he  tried  to  climb  up  a  bush,  but  was  pulled  down  by 
one  of  the  dogs,  and  so  disabled  that  he  could  proceed  no  further.  We  had  to  stir 
him  up  once  in  a  while,  give  him  a  regular  shake,  so  that  he  might  answer  a  few 
more  questions,  because  he  was  expiring.  I  saw  him  after  he  was  dead.  That  was 
a  few  days  before  the  six  raiders  were  hung,  which  was  on  the  llth  of  July.  That 
bloodhound  affair  struck  my  mind.  Shortly  afterward,  I  was  taken  out  on  detail 
into  the  graveyard,  and  I  one  day  met  the  old  bloodhound  man,  and  I  asked  him, 
"Why  in  the  world  are  you  committing  such  cruelties  against  us  Yankees'?"  "Why," 
said  he,  "it  is  the  order  of  Captain  Wirz.  I  would  not  do  it,  but  he  told  me  to 
fetch  back  one  of  you  Yankee  sons  of ." 

I  was  on  duty  as  a  grave-digger.  The  prisoners  were  buried  in  trenches  180  feet 
long,  7  feet  wide,  and  3%  feet  deep.  That  was  the  order  we  had  from  Captain 
Piggot,  superintendent  of  the  graveyard.  They  were  laid  side  by  side  on  their 
backs;  and  we  generally  covered  them  with  some  pine  slabs  or  puncheons  as  they 
were  called,  until  these  got  so  scarce  that  we  could  not  get  enough  to  cover  the 
bodies,  so  we  just  put  them  in  without  anything  covering  them  but  the  ground.  The 
bodies  when  they  came  there  for  interment  were  about  half  mortified.  We  could 
hardly  touch  them  to  pull  them  out  of  the  wagons  onto  the  old  stretcher  without 
their  skin  remaining  in  our  hands;  and  they  were  full  of  vermin  of  all  descrip 
tions.  Two  teams,  drawn  by  four  mules  each,  were  employed  in  bringing  the  dead 
to  the  graveyard.  They  were  covered  wagons  like  our  army  wagons.  They  were 
hauling  steadily  from  morning  till  night  almost.  The  dead  were  placed  right  on 
top  of  each  other  in  the  wagons.  They  had  hardly  any  clothes  on. 

The  first  act  of  cruelty  which  I  saw  committed  by  Captain  Wirz  was  on  the  day 
of  my  arrival.  We  were  marched  from  the  railroad  depot  in  front  of  his  head 
quarters,  which  consisted  of  an  old  log  cabin.  He  was  most  noted  to  me  by  the 
revolver  which  he  carried  in  his  belt,  and  the  foreign  accent  with  which  he  spoke 
the  English  language.  I  and  about  fifteen  more  were  on  the  extreme  left  of  the 
line.  We  were  counted  out,  as  I  was  told  by  the  guard,  to  fill  up  old  detachments, 
and  the  rest  of  the  men  were  all  counted  in  nineties.  Captain  Wirz  fussed  around 
there,  threatening  and  cursing.  I  thought  he  was  a  pretty  rough  customer.  After 


282  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

the  other  men  were  all  marched  into  the  stockade  we  were  marched  in  front  of  his 
headquarters  and  remained  there.  Captain  Wirz  and  several  other  rebel  officers 
went  inside.  One  of  the  guards  seemed  to  be  a  little  friendly  to  me,  and  he  told 
me  the  condition  of  the  prisoners  in  the  stockade;  that  they  had  no  shelter  or  any 
thing.  I  had  been  robbed  in  Richmond  of  everything  I  had.  I  saw  an  old  piece  of 
tin  under  the  log  house,  and  as  I  am  a  blacksmith  by  profession,  I  thought  I  might 
make  myself  a  pan  out  of  that  tin  if  I  had  it.  I  reached  for  it.  At  the  same 
moment  Captain  Wirz  came  out.  He  commenced  cursing  and  said  to  the  guard, 

"Why  don't  you  shoot  that  Yankee  son  of .     I  will  keep  you  in  line.     Damn 

you,  I  will  put  you  in  the  stockade,  and  let  you  rot  like  a  great  many  have  done 
before."  So  I  did  not  get  the  tin.  I  went  in  without  it. 

My  rations  were  stopped.  Whenever  Captain  Wirz  wanted  to  find  out  some 
thing  in  regard  to  tunneling,  or  if  a  man  was  absent  from  roll-call — some  poor 
fellow  who  might  have  gone  to  the  sink  in  the  center  of  the  stockade  where  the 
little  brook  was,  and  become  unable  to  return — our  rations  were  stopped.  On  the 
4th  of  July,  1864,  we  did  not  get  a  bite. 

I  have  seen  men  in  the  stocks.  The  stocks  were  of  various  kinds.  Some  just 
held  the  feet  ten  or  twelve  inches  higher  than  the  ground,  so  that  the  man  could 
either  sit  or  lie  down,  exposed  to  all  kinds  of  weather.  Others  held  a  man  round 
the  neck  with  his  arms  stretched  out.  As  a  man  stood  there  in  that  way  it  ap 
peared  to  me  (I  can  find  no  other  expression  for  it)  just  like  the  image  of  Christ 
crucified. 

TESTIMONY  OP  WILLIAM  BULL. 

William  Bull  testified  t1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  Company  A, 
Means's  Independent  London  Rangers,  from  the  State  of  Virginia.  They  were 
loyal.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville.  I  arrived  there  the  3d  of  June,  1864. 
When  I  got  there  I  was  put  in  the  stockade,  where  I  remained  eight  months.  I 
then  got  out  on  parole,  and  was  out  three  months  and  twenty-three  days.  I  left 
the  stockade  the  24th  March,  1865. 

I  saw  several  men  shot  on  the  dead-line.  For  the  whole  eight  months  I  was 
there,  I  think  I  saw  in  the  neighborhood  of  eight  or  nine  men  shot.  I  do  not 
know  the  names  of  any  of  them.  The  first  man  I  saw  shot  was  the  afternoon  that 
I  entered  the  stockade — the  third  of  June,  1864,  at  the  north  gate.  Captain  Wirz 
came  in  at  the  head  of  the  detachment.  He  put  three  guards  on  the  stoop,  and 
ordered  them  to  fire  at  the  crowd  to  make  them  keep  back.  As  we  came  along  in 
he  kept  telling  them  to  keep  back,  and  he  told  the  guard  to  fire.  At  last  one  of 
the  guards  did  fire  and  shot  a  man.  The  ball  struck  him  in  the  stomach.  The 
sentry  was  not  fifteen  feet  from  him  when  he  fired.  There  were  three  sentries 
together;  only  one  sentry  fired.  The  next  man  I  saw  shot  was  about  two  months 
after  that.  He  was  inside  the  stockade,  at  the  stream  which  ran  through  it.  I 
think  the  man  had  come  in  the  same  day.  He  went  down  to  the  brook  to  get 
water,  stooped  over  to  get  a  drink,  and  was  killed.  He  was  shot  right  through  the 
head.  The  ball  went  in  at  the  right  ear  and  came  out  at  the  other  side.  I  do  not 
know  that  man's  name  or  regiment.  I  do  not  know  by  whose  orders  he  was  shot. 

1  Record,  p.  328  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  283 

All  the  orders  I  ever  heard  given  there  were  given  by  Captain  Wirz.  I  heard  none 
given  at  that  time.  There  was  no  one  on  the  post  but  the  sentinel.  The  next  man 
I  saw  shot  was  in  September,  1864.  I  was  lying  in  the  stockade  about  six  feet 
from  the  dead-line,  asleep.  I  lay  right  next  him,  within  three  or  four  feet  of  him. 
It  was  the  habit  at  night  to  call  out  the  hour.  This  guard  was  asleep,  and  when  it 
came  round  to  him  to  call  the  hour  the  guard  below  him  kept  hallooing  to  him  to 
wake  up.  He  woke  up  and  fired  right  down  into  the  camp,  and  shot  a  man  through 
the  knee.  The  man  died  two  or  three  days  afterwards.  I  do  not  know  his  name; 
he  belonged  to  an  Illinois  regiment.  I  should  judge  this  was  about  the  middle  of 
September.  The  next  man  I  saw  shot  was  about  the  15th  of  July  about  three  or 
four  days  after  the  execution  of  these  men  at  the  south  gate.  It  was  doctor's 
call  in  the  morning,  and  the  crowd  was  rushing  up.  The  orders  from  the  doctor 
were  to  fire  on  the  crowd  if  they  did  not  keep  back.  This  man  was  so  sick  that  he 
fell  over  on  the  guard,  who  fired  at  him  and  shot  him  through  the  right  shoulder. 
I  do  not  think  he  died.  I  recollect  one  being  shot  back  of  the  hospital,  inside  the 
ptockade.  He  was  a  crazy  man.  He  was  shot  right  through  the  head.  He  ran 
over  the  dead-line  and  asked  the  guard  to  shoot  him.  That  was  in  January,  1865, 
a  few  days  before  I  came  out  on  parole.  He  was  killed  instantly.  I  did  not  see 
Captain  Wirz  present  at  the  time.  I  do  not  recollect,  now,  seeing  any  other  men 
shot. 

On  the  3d  of  June,  1864,  the  day  I  went  to  Andersonville,  we  were  drawn  up  in 
a  line.  A  young  fellow  named  Doherty,  belonging  to  my  company,  started  after 
some  water.  Captain  Wirz  was  counting  at  the  head  of  the  men,  and  the  young 
fellow  asked  Sergeant  Smith,  who  was  standing  right  by,  if  he  could  go  and  get 
some  water.  Smith  said  he  had  no  objection.  Captain  Wirz  came  along  and  asked 
where  that  damned  Yankee  was  going.  He  caught  hold  of  him,  kicked  him  three  or 
four  times,  and  put  him  back  in  the  ranks.  I  do  not  know  any  other  incident  of 
that  character. 

TESTIMONY  OF  J.  H.  BURNS. 

Jas.  H.  Burns  testified  i1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  10th  Connecticut, 
Company  I.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  for  nearly  eight  months,  from 
February  23,  1864,  to  the  7th  of  September.  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  while  I  was 
there. 

I  have  known  him  ill  treat  prisoners  in  his  custody.  I  saw  him  order  the  guard 
to  shoot  a  man  named  Chickamauga  for  going  inside  the  dead-line. 

I  was  put  in  the  stocks  once  myself,  under  his  orders,  for  trying  to  make  my 
escape.  I  heard  him  order  the  guard  to  put  me  there.  I  was  kept  there  twenty- 
four  hours  or  thereabouts,  with  nothing  to  eat  or  drink.  That  was  either  on  the 
13th  or  14th  of  July,  1864. 

I  saw  Captain  Wirz  come  in  there  one  morning  to  call  the  roll — one  morning 
in  July,  1864.  He  came  in  and  knocked  some  of  my  comrades  around,  and  used 
harsh  language  to  them.  He  drew  his  revolver  upon  me  one  morning,  but  he  did 
not  use  it.  I  have  known  him  fire  into  a  crowd  of  prisoners.  One  morning  a  stone 
or  brick  was  thrown  at  him  as  he  came  into  the  camp,  riding  on  his  horse.  He 

1  Record,  p.  331. 


284  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

immediately  drew  his  revolver  and  fired  into  the  crowd  of  prisoners  in  the  stockade. 
I  never  heard  any  complaints  made  to  him  to  my  knowledge.  I  remember  no 
instance  of  death  resulting  from  shooting  or  otherwise  by  Captain  Wirz.  That  is 
all  I  remember  now  about  what  I  saw  and  suffered  down  there. 

He  stopped  the  men's  rations  once  on  the  3d  or  4th  of  July;  at  least  it  was  said 
that  it  was  he  who  stopped  them.  Next  day  the  meat  was  brought  in  in  a  con 
dition  not  to  be  used.  That  was  said  to  be  under  his  orders. 

I  was  in  prison  at  the  time  a  shot  was  fired  over  it.  There  was  a  solid  shot 
fired  over  the  camp  one  day.  The  prisoners  had  rushed  down  near  the  gateway  to 
see  some  new  prisoners  who  were  coming  in.  There  was  a  solid  shot  fired  over  the 
camp,  going  toward  the  northwest  corner  of  the  camp.  I  do  not  know  the  date, 
but  I  should  judge  it  was  in  July,  1864.  The  guns  pointed  toward  the  stockade. 
All  the  artillery  that  we  could  see  was  turned  toward  the  camp.  I  saw  eight  pieces 
to  my  knowledge  bearing  on  the  camp.  I  saw  them  in  that  position  for  three 
months. 

I  heard  Captain  Wirz  tell  the  guard,  "Shoot  the  first  Yankee  that  undertakes  to 
make  his  escape  or  anything  of  the  kind.  The  more  we  shoot  the  less  we  will  have 
to  feed  or  fight."  That  was  one  morning  that  I  was  going  after  wood.  It  was  in 
the  month  of  June. 

TESTIMONY  OF  A.  G.  BLAIR. 

A.  G.  Blair  testified  i1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  122d  New  York.  I  wan 
taken  prisoner  on  the  23d  of  May,  1864,  at  the  battle  of  the  Wilderness.  I  was 
taken  to  Libby  Prison  first,  and  from  that  to  Andersonville,  where  I  arrived  about 
the  first  of  June.  Captain  Wirz  was  in  command  of  the  prison  when  I  arrived 
there. 

I  have  heard  a  great  many  questions  asked  Captain  Wirz  about  rations  when 
ever  he  would  come  into  the  camp,  His  reply  was  generally  an  oath,  saying  that 
we  would  get  all  the  rations  we  deserved,  and  that  was  damned  little. 

Q.  Did  he  ever  say  he  would  not  give  you  rations  if  he  could? 

A.  I  never  heard  him  make  that  exact  remark. 

Q.  Did  he  make  any  similar  remark? 

A.  Several  days  during  the  fore  part  of  my  imprisonment  there  we  had  no 
rations.  The  report  came  from  good  authority  that  he  was  the  cause  of  it,  he 
being  in  charge  of  the  camp. 

[Interrupted  by  counsel  for  the  accused.] 

Question  repeated. 

A.  I  have  not  heard  those  words  from  his  mouth. 

Q.  Did  you  hear  any  similar  language  used  by  Captain  Wirz  to  that  which  ] 
repeated  to  you?  If  so,  state  what  the  language  was. 

[Objected  to  by  counsel  for  the  accused  on  the  ground  that  witness  had  already 
answered  in  the  negative.  After  deliberation  the  objection  was  overruled.] 

A.  On  one  occasion  when  he  was  asked  by  several  of  the  prisoners  who  had  not 
had  any  rations  for  twenty-four  hours,  when  they  were  to  have  any,  he  made  the 

1  Record,  p.  343  et  seq. 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TEEATMENT.  285 

remark  that  if  the  rations  were  in  his  hands  we  would  not  get  any.  That  was  in 
the  beginning  of  July,  1864,  just  before  or  after  the  4th. 

I  have  seen  him  stand  at  the  gate  when  sick  men  were  carried  out.  The  men 
were  very  anxious  to  get  out  of  the  sun  into  the  shade,  and  they  would  rush  out 
to  a  small  passage-way  made  in  the  large  doors  coming  out,  to  suit  him.  I  have 
seen  him  shove  the  well,  and  the  sick  who  were  being  carried,  over  on  their 
backs;  or  sometimes  he  would  order  the  guards  to  do  it.  The  condition  of  the 
men  taken  out  of  camp  into  the  hospital  was  hopeless — all  that  I  ever  saw  taken 
out. 

I  escaped  from  Andersonville  in  the  latter  part  of  July  or  the  fore  part  of 
August,  and  got  about  thirty  miles  from  the  stockade  when  I  was  captured  and 
brought  back  to  the  camp.  I  was  kept  over  night,  and  then  was  put  in  the  stocks. 
The  first  day  that  I  was  taken  out  of  the  stocks  I  was  not  put  in  the  stockade  that 
night.  I  was  put  in  the  stocks  the  next  day,  and  then  was  returned  to  the  prison 
with  three  other  comrades.  I  do  not  recollect  the  exact  number  of  hours  I  was 
kept  in  the  stocks;  I  should  think  five  or  six  hours. 

Q.  Did  the  prisoner  give  any  orders  in  reference  to  your  being  put  in  the  stocks? 

A.  Just  before  I  was  put  in  the  stocks  I  saw  him  give  some  orders  from  his 
headquarters,  and  I  supposed  that  those  were  the  orders. 

I  saw  prisoners  shot  on  or  near  the  dead-line,  on  several  occasions.  I  was 
down,  in  the  fore  part  of  my  imprisonment,  to  get  water  at  the  creek.  That  was 
the  only  resource  for  obtaining  water,  except  you  had  a  right  in  one  of  the  wells. 
The  crowd  was  very  great  there.  It  was  absolutely  necessary  sometimes  either 
to  get  over  the  dead-line  or  to  thirst.  I  have  seen  men  on  five  or  six  occasions 
either  shot  dead  or  mortally  wounded  for  trying  to  get  water  under  the  dead 
line.  I  have  seen  one  or  two  instances  where  men  were  shot  over  the  dead-line. 
Whether  they  went  over  it  intentionally,  or  unconsciously  from  not  knowing  the 
rules,  I  cannot  say.  I  think  that  the  number  of  men  shot  during  my  imprison 
ment  ranged  from  twenty-five  to  forty.  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  give  any  of 
their  names.  I  did  know  them  at  the  time,  because  they  had  tented  right  around 
me,  or  messed  with  me,  but  their  names  have  slipped  my  mind.  Two  of  them 
belonged  to  the  40th  New  York  Eegiment.  Those  two  men  were  shot  just  after  I 
got  there,  in  the  latter  part  of  June,  1864. 

Q.  Did  you  see  the  person  who  shot  them? 

A.  I  saw  the  sentry  raise  his  gun.  I  hallooed  to  the  man.  I  and  several  of 
the  rest  gave  the  alarm,  but  it  was  too  late.  Both  of  these  men  did  not  die; 
one  was  shot  through  the  arm;  the  other  died;  he  was  shot  in  the  right  breast. 
I  did  not  see  Captain  Wirz  present  at  the  time.  I  did  not  hear  any  orders 
given  to  the  sentinels,  or  any  words  from  the  sentinels  when  they  fired;  nothing 
more  than  they  often  said  that  it  was  done  by  orders  from  the  commandant  of 
the  camp,  and  that  they  were  to  receive  so  many  days'  furlough  for  every  Yankee 
devil  they  killed.  Those  twenty-five  or  forty  men  were  shot  from  the  middle 
of  June,  1864,  until  the  1st  of  September.  There  were  men  shot  every  month. 
I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  saw  Captain  Wirz  present  when  any  of  these  men  were 
shot.  I  had  no  chance  of  seeing  him  unless  he  was  in  the  stockade.  The  majority 
of  those  whom  I  saw  shot  were  killed  outright;  expired  in  a  few  moments. 

Q.  Can  you  give  a  detailed  description  of  those  you  saw  killed  and  of  the  dates? 

A.  In  regard  to  the  dates  I  cannot  give  you  any  detail.    I  lost  dates  there,  and 


286  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

did  not  know  when  Sunday  came.  I  came  very  near  being  shot  myself.  A  very 
large  crowd  had  gathered  at  the  stream  of  water,  and  I  was  reaching  over  the 
dead-line  in  order  to  get  some  water.  I  could  not  get  it  anywhere  else,  as  I  had 
no  right  to  the  wells.  A  bullet  came,  I  should  judge,  within  two  or  three  inches 
of  my  right  ear,  striking  one  man  through  the  arm,  and  mortally  wounding 
another.  These  men  were  in  their  tents,  unoffending. 

Q.  Were  all  these  twenty-five  or  forty  men  shot  by  the  sentries  for  crossing  the 
dead-line  or  being  near  it? 

A.  Some  were  across  it,  and  others  not.  I  saw  a  man  shot  who  was  three  feet 
inside  the  dead-line.  I  saw  one  shot  on  the  10th  of  July,  just  the  day  before  the 
men  whom  we  called  the  raiders  were  hung. 

Q.  Describe  the  circumstances  that  led  to  the  men  being  shot. 

A.  I  do  not  know,  except  from  the  great  desire  of  sentries  to  get  furloughs. 

Q.  Did  you  ever  hear  any  order  given  by  the  prisoner  in  reference  to  firing 
grape  and  canister  on  the  prisoners  in  the  stockade? 

A.  He  gave  an  order;  I  did  not  hear  it;  but  there  was  an  order  given 

(Interrupted  by  counsel  for  the  accused:) 

Q.  What  order  did  you  ever  hear  him  give? 

A.  Captain  Wirz  planted  a  range  of  flags  inside  the  stockade,  and  gave  the 
order,  just  inside  the  gate,  "that  if  a  crowd  of  two  hundred  (that  was  the  number) 
should  gather  in  any  one  spot  beyond  those  flags  and  near  the  gate,  he  would  fire 
grape  and  canister  into  them." 

Captain  Wirz  gave  this  order  I  was  speaking  of  to  the  crowd  of  prisoners 
around  the  gate.  He  merely  told  them  he  would  fire  upon  them  if  they  gathered 
there.  I  did  not  hear  him  give  the  order  to  the  men  outside.  He  warned  us  that 
if  we  gathered  there  in  numbers  he  would  fire  upon  us. 

Q.  Then  it  was  not  an  order,  but  simply  a  warning? 

A.  Yes,  sir. 

TESTIMONY  OP  J.  B.  WALKER. 

John  Burns  Walker  testified  :x 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  Company  G,  141st  Penn 
sylvania  Infantry.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  from  June  16,  1864,  till  May 
26,  1865. 

I  was  wounded  on  the  evening  of  May  28,  1864,  at  Hanover  Junction,  Va.,  and 
was  taken  to  Eichmond  on  the  30th;  from  there  to  Danville,  and  by  Columbia  to 
Andersonville,  where  I  arrived  on  the  16th  of  June.  .  .  . 

I  know  the  name  of  a  prisoner  who  was  shot  by  a  sentry  and  killed.  I  have 
a  memorandum  from  which  I  can  state  it  with  certainty.  On  the  4th  of  Sep 
tember,  1864,  a  prisoner  belonging  to  the  7th  Indiana  Infantry,  whose  name  was 
Morris  Prendiville,  was  asleep  in  his  tent  about  10  o'clock  in  the  evening.  His 
quarters  were  near  mine.  I  heard  the  report  and  went  out.  There  was  a  little 
commotion  at  the  quarters  where  the  prisoner  was  shot.  When  I  got  opposite 
the  tent  I  found  something  under  my  feet,  and  on  looking  down  I  found  the 
man's  brain  and  blood  on  the  path.  His  feet  were  toward  the  dead-line,  about 
three  feet  from  it;  his  head  was  toward  the  path.  He  had  been  wounded  in 


1  Record,  p.  348  et  seq. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TEEATMENT.  287 

battle  and  afterwards  brought  to  Andersonville.  He  had  been  there  only  a  few 
days  when  he  was  shot.  I  reported  the  case  next  morning  to  Captain  Wirz.  I 
left  a  report  at  the  gate;  I  never  heard  anything  more  of  it.  He  was  shot  in  the 
head,  the  ball  scattering  his  brains  about.  I  know  the  man's  name  was  Prendi- 
ville,  because  I  wrote  it  on  a  paper  and  pinned  it  on  his  breast ;  I  wrote  the  cause 
of  his  death — that  he  was  shot  by  the  guard — and  I  pinned  the  paper  on  his  shirt 
bosom.  I  made  a  memorandum  at  the  time  for  myself,  and  I  have  it  here.  I 
wrote  this  on  the  morning  after  the  man's  death. 

[Witness  produced  the  memorandum,  which  was  read,  as  follows: 

"Morris  Prendiville,  Company  H,  7th  Indiana  Eegiment,  infantry;  shot  through 
the  head  on  the  night  of  the  4th  of  September,  1864,  by  the  rebel  guard.  He  was 
asleep  in  his  tent,  directly  opposite  the  post.  The  guard  had  no  cause  to  commit 
the  crime."] 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE  :  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  court  to  the  following 
extract  from  the  hospital  register:  "11,230,  Prendiville,  M.,  private  7th  Indiana, 
Co.  H,  complaint  unknown;  admitted  September  6th;  died  September  6th;  died 
in  quarters." 

WITNESS  [continued] :  I  do  not  know  the  names  of  any  others  who  were  killed. 
On  the  5th  of  August,  1864,  five  men  were  shot.  I  did  not  take  their  names. 
Four  of  them  were  shot  at  the  branch,  and  one  of  them  near  the  northeast  corner, 
inside  the  stockade.  Three  of  them  were  shot  at  one  time;  one  was  killed  and 
two  were  wounded.  Such  shooting  was  a  frequent  occurrence  at  that  place. 

My  rations  were  stopped  while  I  was  at  Andersonville;  on  the  3d  of  July 
the  sergeants  came  in  and  told  us  that  we  were  going  to  have  a  fine  time  on  the 
4th  of  July,  that  we  would  have  an  extra  ration.  The  4th  of  July  came  and  we 
had  no  rations  at  all.  The  rations  were  frequently  stopped.  The  crime  of  any 
man  not  being  able  to  report,  or  any  sergeant  not  being  able  to  report  the  num 
ber  of  men,  was  considered  a  sufficient  cause  for  stopping  our  rations.  I  generally 
managed  to  substitute  men  for  those  whom  I  could  not  account  for.  Sometimes 
it  was  not  possible  for  all  the  men  to  be  present.  Sick  men  had  to  leave  and  go 
to  places  where  it  was  necessary  for  them  to  go,  and  they  would  not  be  able  to 
get  back  in  time.  I  generally  found  men  from  other  squads  who  had  been  counted, 
and  filled  up  the  vacancies  with  them. 

We  were  not  doing  anything  when  the  sergeant  came  in  on  the  3d  of  July  and 
spoke  to  us  in  regard  to  our  rations.  We  had  not  been  attempting  to  break  out 
that  day.  I  used  to  hear  about  a  plan  to  break  out,  but  I  never  could  find  any 
organization.  Such  an  attempt  was  not  the  cause  for  stopping  our  rations.  I 
never  knew  of  any  organization  to  break  out ;  I  knew  of  some  tunneling.  I  guess 
the  rations  were  not  stopped  because  there  had  been  tunneling.  I  do  not  know; 
I  know  that  we  had  the  promise  of  a  good  day  on  the  4th,  and  we  did  not  get  it. 
I  did  not  hear  at  that  time  anything  about  tunneling  out. 

TESTIMONY  OF  C.  H.  RUSSELL. 

Chas.  H.  Russell,  recalled  for  the  prosecution,  testified  r1 
I  saw  acts  of  cruelty  committed  at  Andersonville  by  a  man  named  Duncan; 
I  believe  his  name  was  James  Duncan.     I  understood  that  he  was  a  rebel  quarter- 

1  Record,  p.  366. 


288  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

master.  He  used  to  come  in  with  the  wagon  bringing  in  the  bread.  He  issued  it 
out  to  the  sergeants  of  detachments.  .  .  . 

I  saw  Duncan  in  this  courtroom;    I  see  him  now. 

[Witness  pointed  out  the  man  to  whom  he  ref erred.]  1 

About  the  10th  day  of  June,  1864,  he  came  in  with  some  bread,  and  I  with 
six  other  men  of  my  detachment  was  detailed  to  go  down  and  help  him  to  bring 
up  the  bread.  A  fellow  belonging  to  my  100 — I  don't  know  his  name;  he  belonged 
to  a  Tennessee  regiment — came  down  with  me,  and  while  we  were  getting  the 
bread,  or  rather  while  we  were  standing  by,  for  our  turn  had  not  come,  a  piece 
of  crust  broke  off  and  this  man  stooped  down  to  pick  it  up;  as  soon  as  he  did 
so,  Duncan  jumped  out  of  the  wagon  and  struck  him,  and  kicked  him  twice  or 
three  times  severely.  The  man  died  three  or  four  days  afterwards  in  a  tent 
in  the  stockade.  Before  that  occurred  he  was  just  as  healthy  as  I  was,  and 
I  thought  his  chance  of  getting  out  was  fully  as  good;  he  had  as  good  a  tent 
as  mine  was.  Another  instance  was  three  or  four  days  afterwards,  about  the 
loth  of  June.  My  tent  was  close  to  the  gate  where  the  wagon  stopped  and  where 
the  bread  was  issued.  This  Duncan  was  issuing  bread  again.  A  poor  fellow, 
about  half-witted,  who  stayed  on  the  north  side  of  the  stockade,  came  over  there. 
He  went  to  get  some  bread.  I  did  not  see  the  commencement  of  the  affair,  and 
could  not  tell  whether  he  wanted  to  steal  some  or  not ;  at  all  events,  I  saw  Duncan 
jump  out  of  the  wagon  and  kick  him  and  knock  him  down.  The  man  jumped  up 
and  Duncan  knocked  him  down  again,  then  picked  him  up  and  threatened  to 
throw  him  inside  the  dead-line  and  let  the  guard  shoot  him.  The  man  went  away 
and  that  was  the  last  I  saw  of  him.  The  first  occurrence  which  I  have  narrated 
occurred  about  the  10th  of  June.  I  do  not  know  the  man's  name  whom  I  saw 
Duncan  kick;  he  belonged  to  a  Tennessee  regiment.  I  do  not  know  the  name  of 
the  second  man.  I  saw  him  about  the  camp,  but  I  never  knew  his  name;  he  was 
a  half-witted  fellow.  That  is  all  I  know  about  acts  of  cruelty  committed  by 
Duncan. 

TESTIMONY  OF  W.  W.  CRANDALL. 

W.  W.  Crandall,  recalled  for  the  prosecution,  testified  :2 
I  knew  a  man  at  Andersonville  named  Duncan.  That  [pointing  him  out  in 
court]  is  the  man.  He  had  charge  of  the  cook-house  there.  During  the  first 
time  I  was  there  he  used  to  come  into  the  stockade  with  rations.  During  the  lat 
ter  part  of  the  time  they  said  he  was  acting  as  detective.  In  the  first  days 
of  October,  1864,  I  was  in  the  ball-and-chain-gang.  I  saw  him  and  another  man 
named  Barr  bring  a  man  to  put  in  the  stocks.  His  name  was  James  Armstrong. 
He  belonged  to  an  Ohio  regiment;  the  number  of  the  regiment  I  cannot  tell. 
They  put  him  in  what  they  called  the  "spread-eagle  stocks,"  and  after  put 
ting  him  in  they  took  from  him  his  money  and  a  picture.  I  heard  Armstrong 
plead  with  Duncan  for  the  picture,  saying  either  that  it  was  a  picture  of  his 
sister  or  of  his  mother.  He  did  not  get  it.  He  was  left  there  three  or  four 
hours,  when  Duncan  came  back  alone  and  took  him  out,  saying  that  he  was 

1  Duncan  was  subsequently  tried  by  military  commission  and  convicted  of  participation  in  the 
Andersonville  horror. 

2  Record,  p.  367. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  289 

going  to  send  him  away  on  the  cars.  I  heard  Armstrong  at  the  time  ask  Dun 
can  if  he  could  not  give  him  back  that  picture.  The  answer  was,  "You  may 
consider  yourself  damned  fortunate  to  get  away  at  all,  and  that  you  are  not  put 
in  the  ball-and-chain-gang  with  those  other  boys."  I  did  not  notice  anything 
that  he  took  except  the  money  and  picture.  I  do  not  know  how  much  money. 
The  man  told  me  the  amount  while  he  was  still  in  the  stocks.  I  think  he  stated 
the  sum  was  about  eight  or  nine  dollars  in  greenbacks.  I  do  not  know  of  any 
other  special  acts  of  cruelty  by  Duncan. 

TESTIMONY  OF  S.   M.  RIKER. 

Samuel  M.  Hiker  testified  r1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  8th  New  Jersey 
Volunteers.  I  was  taken  prisoner  the  22d  of  June,  1864.  I  was  taken  first  to 
Richmond  and  from  there  to  Andersonville,  where  I  arrived  on  the  10th  of  July. 

I  saw  the  prisoner  the  day  I  arrived  there.  I  went  there  with  some  six  hun 
dred  Union  prisoners,  and  was  taken  immediately  to  Captain  Wirz's  head 
quarters.  We  were  compelled  to  stand  there  under  the  burning  sun,  without 
shade,  and  without  water,  between  three  and  four  hours.  The  men  were  formed  in 
four  ranks  and  were  ordered  to  remain  so.  They  would  leave  the  ranks  in  order 
to  get  water,  if  possible,  from  boys  passing  with  canteens  for  soldiers.  They 
were  cautioned  frequently  not  to  do  it.  One  man  who  stepped  out  was  struck 
on  the  head  with  the  butt  of  a  gun  by  one  of  Captain  Wirz's  sergeants,  whose 
name  I  do  not  know.  The  man  was  insensible  for  some  time.  Many  of  the 
men  standing  there  fainted  away  from  exposure  and  the  heat  of  the  sun.  It 
would  probably  be  called  sun-stroke.  They  were  carried  and  laid  under  trees, 
and  were  not  taken  into  the  stockade  with  us.  Soon  after  we  were  all  turned  into 
the  stockade.  Next  day  raw  rations  were  issued  to  us.  We  had  no  wood  to  cook 
them,  and  of  course  were  hungry  for  a  long  time  before  we  got  enough  used  to  the 
ways  of  the  stockade  to  obtain  wood  and  materials  for  cooking.  .  .  . 

I  know  of  two  cases  of  shooting  in  the  stockade.  The  men  were  not  acquaintances 
of  mine,  not  men  that  I  knew.  I  kept  a  diary  while  there,  but  being  obliged  to 
keep  it  in  lead-pencil  it  is  so  blurred  and  rubbed  out  that  I  cannot  read  it,  and 
cannot  give  the  names.  The  men  were  shot  in  July,  near  the  place  where  they 
used  to  get  water  to  drink  from  the  stream.  The  persons  shooting  them  were 
younger  men,  who  were  on  guard.  The  first  man  I  saw  shot  was  shot  in  the  breast. 
I  saw  him  after  he  was  carried  away.  He  died  a  few  minutes  afterwards.  He 
was  shot  by  a  mere  boy,  probably  not  more  than  fourteen  years  old.  That  was 
about  the  middle  of  July,  soon  after  I  was  taken  into  the  stockade,  which  was  on 
the  10th  of  July.  It  was  on  the  llth  that  the  six  raiders  were  hung.  I  saw  the 
next  man  shot  in  the  latter  part  of  July.  It  was  at  the  same  place  as  the  other, 
or  verv  near  it,  where  he  was  getting  water. 

1Record,  p.  368. 


290  THE  TEAGEDY  OP  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

TESTIMONY   OF    C.   E.    SMITH. 

Charles  E.  Smith  testified:1 

I  am  in  the  service  of  the  United  States.  I  belong  to  Company  K,  4th  United 
States  Cavalry.  I  went  to  Andersonville  on  the  2d  of  May,  1864,  and  remained 
till  the  12th  of  September. 

I  saw  four  men  shot  in  the  stockade.  I  saw  three  shot  together,  the  one  ball 
taking  effect  on  the  three  of  them.  One  of  them  was  killed  instantly,  another 
died  in  about  an  hour,  and  the  third  died  in  about  two  days  afterwards.  I  think 
that  was  about  the  10th  of  June.  I  do  not  know  the  men's  names.  They  were 
shot  at  the  creek  by  the  sentinel  on  post.  Only  one  sentinel  fired.  I  saw  a 
man  shot  on  the  north  side  of  the  stockade.  He  was  reaching  under  the  dead 
line  to  pick  up  a  piece  of  bread  which  some  other  man  had  thrown  out  of  his 
haversack.  The  sentinel  shot  him  from  his  post.  I  think  this  was  about  the  10th 
of  May.  I  got  there  a  very  few  days  before.  The  man  died  instantly.  I  think 
the  man  was  in  his  right  mind,  except  from  starvation  and  hunger.  Captain 
Wirz  was  present  at  the  first  shooting.  The  man  was  stooping  at  the  dead-line 
for  water,  when  Captain  Wirz  told  the  sentry  to  fire  at  him.  The  sentinel 
hesitated  and  would  not  do  it.  Captain  Wirz  drew  his  own  revolver  and  said  to 
the  sentinel  that  if  he  did  not  shoot  them  damned  Yankees  he  would  shoot  him. 
It  was  after  that  remark,  by  Captain  Wirz,  that  the  sentinel  fired  and  hit  these 
three  men. 

I  heard  Captain  Wirz  order  men  to  be  vaccinated.  He  came  in  one  day  with 
the  doctor.  They  had  been  vaccinating  three  or  four  days.  He  came  to  our 
detachment  that  morning  and  gave  the  sergeant  orders  that  every  man  should 
be  there  and  vaccinated.  They  went  in  to  vaccinate,  and  they  vaccinated  most 
of  the  ninety.  I  was  vaccinated  myself,  and  I  went  to  the  brook  and  washed 
it,  and  sucked  the  blood  out  of  my  arm  and  stopped  it.  Other  men  who  were 
vaccinated  at  the  same  time  came  near  losing  their  arms,  and  I  do  not  know 
but  what  they  did  lose  them  after  I  left.  There  came  big  sores  in  the  arms 
where  the  matter  was  put  in,  and  the  flesh  rotted  away,  and  there  came  big  sores 
under  the  arms.  I  cannot  say  that  I  saw  any  cases  where  the  sores  did  not 
spread  in  that  manner.  I  saw  mostly  all  of  them  with  very  large  sores,  bigger 
than  a  silver  half-dollar.  I  never  saw  them  get  well  while  I  was  there,  except 
they  did  the  same  thing  that  I  did  to  get  it  out  of  their  blood.  Captain  Wirz 
said  that  any  man  who  would  refuse  to  obey  his  orders  would  have  a  ball  and 
chain  put  on.  That  order  was  carried  out.  There  was  one  man  named  Shields, 
belonging  to  the  2d  Iowa  Infantry,  who  refused  to  be  vaccinated.  They  took  him 
out  and  put  a  ball  and  chain  on  him  until  he  consented  to  have  the  matter  put  on 
his  arm.  I  saw  him  after  he  was  vaccinated.  He  went  and  washed  it  out,  and 
got  well  shortly  afterwards. 

I  know  very  well  that  the  prisoner  could  use  both  hands.  I  and  some  of  my 
comrades  were  digging  a  tunnel,  when  he  and  some  more  of  the  rebels  found  it 
out,  and  came  in  with  prodding  irons  to  find  out  where  it  was.  They  confiscated 
our  blankets  and  what  little  meal  we  had,  and  took  all  away  from  us.  I  know  he 
could  use  his  right  arm  very  well  then. 


1  Record,  p.  369. 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TEEATMENT.  291 

Our  rations  were  stopped  there  for  the  3d,  4th,  and  5th  of  July;  we  got  no 
rations  at  all.  I  have  seen  men,  in  a  starving  condition,  on  the  bank  of  the 
swamp  picking  up  beans  which  had  passed  through  men,  and  go  wash  and  eat 
them. 

TESTIMONY  OF  CHARLES  T.  WILLIAMS. 

Charles  T.  Williams  testified  :* 

I  was  in  the  1st  New  Jersey  Cavalry.  I  arrived  at  Andersonville  Marsh  12, 
1864,  and  remained  in  the  stockade  till  August  30th  of  the  same  year.  I  was 
then  taken  out  to  the  hospital,  and  stayed  there  till  March  25,  1865.  Dr.  White 
was  in  charge  of  the  hospital  when  I  went  there.  Afterwards  Dr.  R.  E.  Steven 
son,  after  him  Dr.  Clayton.  The  treatment  was  better  under  Dr.  Clayton.  He 
was  post  surgeon,  and  Dr.  G.  G.  Eoy  had  charge  of  the  interior  of  the  hospital. 
The  treatment  was  better  under  them. 

I  saw  men  in  the  stocks.  I  cannot  tell  by  whose  order.  I  have  heard  Captain 
Wirz  order  men  into  the  stocks,  and  seen  the  sergeant  on  the  way  to  put  them  in. 
It  was  on  March  25,  1865,  when  we  were  down  to  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters, 
being  about  to  arrive  there.  One  of  the  men  did  not  answer  to  his  name.  Captain 
Wirz  ordered  the  sergeant  to  go  and  put  the  man  in  the  stocks.  His  name  was  Darl 
ing.  I  don't  know  how  long  he  remained  in  the  stocks.  I  never  saw  him  afterwards. 

I  have  seen  the  chain-gang.  I  was  in  the  stockade  at  the  time,  and  was  not  very 
near  them.  I  do  not  know  why  the  men  were  put  in  the  chain-gang. 

I  saw  the  hounds.  They  were  used  for  tracking  the  men  when  they  made  their 
escape.  I  saw  men  who  had  been  caught  by  them.  I  have  seen  them  brought  back 
by  them.  I  never  saw  any  men  bitten  by  them.  There  was  one  catch-dog,  and  the 
others  were  what  they  call  plantation  dogs.  The  catch-dog  was  a  sort  of  bull-dog, 
and  the  others  were  more  of  a  hound. 

I  was  at  Andersonville  station  three  or  four  times.  I  was  there  in  March,  1865, 
just  before  leaving,  and  also  last  December.  Never  prior  to  that.  I  saw  a  store 
house  there.  I  should  judge  it  was  about  125  feet  long,  and  thirty  or  thirty-five 
feet  wide. 

I  saw  men  shot  by  the  sentinels.  I  saw  two  men  shot  in  the  stockade,  and  one 
in  the  hospital.  I  cannot  give  any  exact  date.  I  cannot  tell  what  month  it  was; 
it  was  such  a  common  occurrence  that  I  never  took  the  dates  or  months.  I  saw 
one  man  shot  at  the  south  gate,  as  we  called  it,  on  the  west  side  of  the  stockade, 
the  southwest  corner,  and  I  saw  one  man  shot  at  the  north  side.  This  man 
shot  at  the  gate  was  a  cripple;  they  called  him  "Chickamauga."  The  next 
case,  the  man,  I  don't  know  his  name,  was  shot  at  the  dead-line  on  the  north 
side  of  the  stockade.  1  do  not  know  in  what  month.  The  man  was  killed. 
Captain  Wirz  was  not  present  at  the  time  the  man  was  shot  at  the  north  side.  I 
did  not  hear  anything  said  by  the  person  who  shot  him  as  to  why  the  man  was 
shot.  He  was  shot  because  he  reached  over  or  under  the  dead-line  to  get  a  piece 
of  bread  that  lay  there.  He  died.  I  saw  one  man  shot  in  the  hospital.  He 
went  up  to  the  fence  to  speak  to  the  guard.  He  wanted  to  do  some  trading.  The 
guard  fired  at  him.  I  do  not  know  whether  any  one  ordered  the  guard  to  shoot. 
I  don't  know  his  name.  He  was  a  cripple  afflicted  with  scurvy,  who  had  to  go  on 

1  Record,  p.  208. 


292  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

crutches.  He  was  killed.  I  do  not  remember  the  month  in  which  that  occurred. 
I  called  Dr.  Bates's  attention  to  it  at  the  time,  and  took  him  down  and  showed  him 
the  man. 

TESTIMONY  OP  THOS.   WALSH. 

Thos.  Walsh,  private,  74th  New  York,  was  taken  to  Andersonville, 
February  29,  1864,  leaving  October  20th.  He  testified  r1 

When  I  arrived  at  Andersonville  the  prison  was  not  completed.  There  was 
a  portion  between  the  north  and  south  gate  on  the  east  side  that  was  not  quite 
finished.  After  it  was  finished  there  was  a  kind  of  boundary  marked  out  with 
sticks  put  into  the  ground  so  as  to  denote  it;  afterwards  there  was  some  kind 
of  slabs  of  wood  put  around,  about  two  and  a  half  feet  high,  supported  at  inter 
vals  of  about  six,  eight,  or  ten  feet,  with  props.  I  do  not  know  who  directed 
it  to  be  laid  out.  We  got  directions  not  to  go  inside  that  boundary  mark,  or 
otherwise  the  parties  doing  so  would  be  taken  out,  bucked  and  gagged;  I  do 
not  know  who  gave  that  order;  I  have  seen  men  taken  out  myself  by  some  of 
the  sergeants  of  the  rebel  guard;  they  were  bucked  and  gagged  for  stepping  over 
that  line.  That  was  immediately  after  Captain  Wirz  came  there.  Afterwards 
the  dead-line  was  established;  it  was  immediately  after  Captain  Wirz  came  there 
that  the  dead-line  was  established.  The  directions  to  the  sergeants  who  used  to 
call  the  roll  every  morning  were,  that  no  person  should  enter  the  dead-line,  as,  if 
he  got  in  there,  he  would  be  shot. 

I  kept  a  diary,  while  I  was  there,  in  a  testament.  [Witness  produces  it.]  I  was 
a  prisoner  in  Eichmond  three  months  previously  to  going  to  Andersonville,  and 
I  kept  a  short  diary  in  pencil;  a  great  portion  of  it  is  obliterated,  but  it  is  read 
able;  I  have  got  all  the  dates  down. 

Q.  Eefer  to  your  memorandum  of  tho  26th  of  March,  1864. 

A.  It  reads,  "There  were  no  rations  served  out  to-day."  This  is  my  memo 
randum  which  I  kept  in  this  testament.  On  the  27th  it  reads,  "Kations  were  not 
served  out  until  three  o'clock;  a  number  is  sick,  weak,  and  hungry;  what  a  sad 
thing  for  us  all."  There  were  no  rations  issued  on  the  1st  of  April.  On  the  2d 
of  April  they  were  issued  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon;  I  think  they  con 
sisted  of  meal  and  of  what  I  considered  mule  flesh;  about  a  pint  of  meal  and 
about  two  or  three  ounces  of  mule  flesh.  I  have  a  memorandum  for  the  8th  of 
April,  that  the  "adjutant  and  Dutch  captain  were  both  placed  under  arrest."  I 
do  not  see  anything  about  rations  under  that  date.  The  memorandum  for  the  19th 
of  April  is,  "We  had  no  meal  to-day,  a  little  molasses  and  a  few  grains  of  rice." 
There  were  no  rations  issued  on  the  3d  of  July.  On  the  4th  of  July  we  got  rations, 
but  had  to  throw  half  of  it  away,  it  was  so  full  of  maggots. 

I  find,  for  the  27th  of  April,  the  memorandum :  "There  was  a  man  shot  in  the 
leg  for  infringing  beyond  the  boundary."  I  do  not  know  his  name.  I  do  not 
know  whether  he  died  or  not.  I  have  down  in  my  memorandum,  on  Monday,  the  2d 
of  May,  "Our  friend,  the  cavalry  fellow,  shot."  [To  counsel  for  accused:]  I 
entered  everything  in  my  testament;  it  was  written  down,  then  and  there,  on  the 
spot.  I  recollect  the  facts. 

ME.  BAKER  :    Then  I  shall  not  object. 

aRecord,  p.  373  et  seq. 


CEUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  293 

I  do  not  know  the  man's  name;  but  I  knew  him  well,  because  he  had  been 
confined  with  me  in  the  same  building  in  Richmond,  and  we  came  on  the  same 
train  to  Andersonville.  The  man  has  been  mentioned  several  days  here.  We 
used  to  call  him  the  shaky  man.  He  was  a  simpleton  almost.  Some  boxes  had 
arrived  from  Richmond  that  had  been  sent  to  the  prisoners.  Some  of  the 
men  very  incautiously  threw  some  of  the  mouldy  pieces  of  bread  inside  the 
dead-line.  It  was  almost  in  a  line  with  the  street  where  we  had  our  shanty. 
This  poor  man,  after  the  shot  had  been  fired,  I  saw  lying  upon  the  ground,  with 
his  hand  stretched  out  inside  the  dead-line  and  part  of  his  head  inside  the  dead 
line.  The  blood  was  oozing  from  him.  He  was  then  dead.  It  may  have  been 
two  or  three  minutes  before  I  got  up  to  him.  I  did  not  see  Captain  Wirz 
present.  On  the  13th  of  July  a  man  belonging  to  the  20th  Indiana,  3d  Army  Corps, 
was  shot  on  the  dead-line.  I  suppose  he  was  shot  by  one  of  the  sentries  over 
head.  After  the  shot  had  been  fired  I  ran  out;  saw  him  recover  his  piece,  and 
saw  the  smoke  rise.  I  did  not  see  the  man  myself,  but  I  heard  from  his  friends 
that  he  was  dead.  A  man  was  shot  about  the  6th  of  August.  I  understood 
that  the  man  had  arrived  the  same  day;  that  he  had  gone  down  to  the  stockade 
to  get  some  water;  that  he  had  put  his  hand,  with  his  tin  cup  or  vessel,  under 
the  dead-line,  and  was  shot.  I  heard  the  shot  fired  myself  from  the  sentry  box. 
I  was  on  the  north  side,  arid  had  a  perfect  view  down ;  I  could  see  the  water 
flowing  down  tinged  with  his  blood;  the  water  was  not  more  than  three  or  four 
inches  deep  there.  I  do  not  know  that  man's  name  or  regiment.  I  do  not  know 
whether  Captain  Wirz  was  present  or  not ;  I  did  not  see  him.  I  have  of ter  heard 
three  or  four  shots  fired  at  night  and  during  the  day;  but  it  was  impossible  for  a 
person,  unless  he  was  close,  to  see  when  a  man  was  shot.  There  were  twenty-six 
or  twenty-seven  thousand  people  there  on  the  enlargement  of  the  stockade,  about 
the  first  of  July,  and  I  believe  there  were  thirty-five  thousand  there  altogether  at 
one  time.  One  day  there  was  a  conversation  outside,  where  I  was  on  parole, 
about  one  of  the  prisoners  attempting  to  get  out,  or  getting  into  the  dead-line, 
and  the  guard  snapping  his  gun  at  him.  The  reason  the  guard  gave  for  not  shoot 
ing  was,  that  he  had  snapped  three  or  four  caps  and  the  piece  had  not  gone  off. 
Wirz  said,  I  believe,  that  the  man  ought  to  be  shot  himself.  I  did  not  see  the 
captain  then,  for  he  was  outside,  but  I  knew  his  voice. 

"Chickamauga"  was  shot  on  Sunday,  the  15th  May,  (Whit-Sunday).  The  entry 
in  my  memorandum  is:  "The  singular  cripple  shot  dead  at  the  stockade."  I 
knew  "Chickamauga."  He  was  confined  in  the  same  building  with  me  in  Rich 
mond,  and  came  at  the  same  time  to  Andersonville. 

I  have  a  memorandum  for  the  18th  of  May,  in  reference  to  artillery  being  fired 
over  the  stockade;  it  reads:  "General  order  read  that  if  any  attempt  be  made 
to  break  out  of  the  stockade  or  the  gate,  the  artillery  to  fire  indiscriminately  on 
the  stockade."  The  rebel  sergeant  of  our  squad  read  the  order.  The  order  was 
signed  by  Captain  Wirz ;  all  the  orders  were  signed  by  him. 

On  the  28th  of  May  the  entry  is:  "The  captain  is  vigorously  looking  out  for 
tunnels,  and  has  succeeded."  I  recollect  a  shot  being  fired  over  the  stockade;  it 
was  a  shell.  I  have  got  the  date  down  here.  I  recollect  it  very  well;  I  think  it 
was  shortly  before  I  left.  There  were  some  prisoners  coming  in  at  the  time,  and 
whenever  prisoners  came  in  there  was  a  crowd  gathered  about  them.  In  fact,  the 


294  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

place  was  so  packed  that  I  could  hardly  call  it  a  crowd;  but  they  got  a  little  closer 
together.  This  shot  was  fired  from  the  battery  that  overlooked  the  entire  stockade. 

I  believe  the  hospital  was  removed  about  the  30th  of  May.  The  patients  were 
in  a  most  deplorable  state.  They  were  lying  on  the  bare  ground  in  shelter  tents, 
with  a  strip  running  along,  and  open  at  each  end.  The  wind  could  pass  through 
it.  The  dead  were  put  out  in  front  of  those  tents,  in  view  of  the  dying  men  them 
selves.  I  have  known  myself,  in  my  own  squad,  that  men  were  always  in  dread  to 
go  to  the  hospital,  because  they  were  sure  to  die,  and  I  do  not  recollect  one  man 
that  ever  went  into  the  hospital  who  ever  came  out  again,  except  one  man;  his 
name  was  Kelly;  he  belonged  to  my  squad;  he  came  out,  but  was  sent  back,  and 
he  died. 

I  never  saw  the  prisoner  strike  or  maltreat  any  one.  I  have  heard  him  threaten 
to  shoot  men  for  falling  out  of  the  ranks.  The  time  he  came  there  when  our 
rations  were  first  stopped  he  ordered  us  all  into  line  and  said  we  were  to  remain 
there  until  he  had  counted  the  entire  stockade.  I  think  there  were  about  seven  or 
eight  thousand  men  there  at  the  time.  It  was  very  warm,  and  it  was  almost 
impossible,  from  the  weakness  of  the  men,  for  them  to  stand  until  he  had  counted 
them  all.  Some  of  the  squad — and  I  was  one  myself — went  back  to  their  shanties, 
when  Captain  Wirz  came  rushing  back  with  a  revolver  in  his  hand  and  said:  "May 
God  Almighty  damn  me  forever  and  ever  if  I  don't  shoot  the  first  man  who 
attempts  to  leave  the  ranks."  On  these  occasions  there  were  two  sentries  in  each 
sentry-box,  and  directions  were  given  that  we  should  not  leave  the  ranks  until  the 
second  sentry  went  down.  I  have  myself,  even  in  defiance  of  those  orders,  gone 
into  my  shanty,  not  being  able  to  stand  the  heat. 

TESTIMONY  OP  J.  R.  GRIFFIN. 

J.  R.  Griffin  testified  r1 

The  first  portion  of  the  past  year  I  was  an  officer  in  the  Confederate  service, 
colonel  of  the  8th  Georgia  Cavalry,  Army  of  Northern  Virginia.  For  the  past 
four  months  I  have  had  an  interest  in  trying  to  improve  and  beautify  the  Ander- 
sonville  graveyard;  that  is,  I  have  aided  a  brother  of  mine  in  trying  to  improve 
it.  About  the  20th  of  May  last,  being  somewhat  disabled,  I  went  down  for  the 
purpose  of  observing  matters  at  Andersonville.  I  heard  that  there  had  been  a 
great  deal  of  distress  there;  that  was  the  reason  I  went  there.  I  was  ordered  by 
General  Wilson  to  go  there  to  look  after  the  prison.  I  arrived  there  about  the 
20th  of  May,  1865.  I  arrived  under  orders  from  General  Wilson  to  protect  the 
property  there,  to  improve  the  graveyard,  and  to  cover  bodies  that  had  been  some 
what  exposed,  which  I  did.  I  found  the  graveyard  in  rather  a  bad  condition.  It 
had  been  disturbed  by  cows,  and  part  of  the  graves  torn  up  to  some  extent,  which  I 
had  covered.  Two  of  the  bodies  were  exposed ;  the  bodies  were  placed  in  lines,  and 
the  dirt  having  been  in  some  instances  taken  off  them  in  part,  the  graves  were 
somewhat  offensive ;  that  is,  of  the  last  bodies  buried.  No  measures  had  been  taken 
by  the  rebel  government  to  care  for  that  graveyard  that  I  know  of. 

I  saw  no  reason  at  all  to  believe  that  the  uncovering  of  those  bodies  was  inten 
tional;  it  was  from  want  of  care.  There  was  no  person  there  to  take  care  of  the 

1  Record,  p.  384. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  295 

graveyard.    That  was  three  or  four  weeks,  probably,  after  the  Andersonville  prison 
had  been  broken  up. 

TESTIMONY  OF  J.  E.  ALDEN. 

J.  Everett  Alden,  orderly  sergeant,  Company  F,  4th  Vermont  Vol 
unteers,  testified:1 

I  have  a  memorandum,  which  I  made  at  the  time,  of  the  number  of  men  shot 
by  the  sentinels  while  I  was  there;  I  remember  the  number  aside  from  the  memo 
randum;  there  were  seven;  I  can  state  the  particulars  without  reference  to  the 
memorandum  as  to  the  shooting  of  two  of  them;  I  do  not  think  I  can  as  to  all 
the  rest.     On  July  22,  1864,  there  was  a  man  killed;   I  do  not  know  his  name 
or  his  regiment;   he  was  shot  through  the  groin;    he  was  not   killed  instantly; 
he  was  taken  outside  to  the  hospital;  the  guard  shot  him;  he  was  over  the  dead 
line;  he  was  a  sergeant,  and  he  was  anxious  to  get  outside  with  his  men,  as  he  had 
some  who  were  very  badly  off;  he  wanted  to  be  the  first  to  get  outside  to  the  door, 
and  he  crowded  up;  the  sentinel  repeatedly  told  him  to  keep  back;   a  sergeant 
came  up  to  the  gate,  with  whom  he  was  acquainted,  and  he  motioned  to  him  if  he 
could  come  out;  the  sergeant  beckoned  to  him  to  come  out,  but  the  guard  did  not 
notice  it;  the  man  crowded  past,  and  the  guard  raised  his  gun;  he  could  not  lift  it 
high  enough  to  shoot  him  through  the  body,  but  he  shot  him  through  the  groin;    I 
did  not  see  the  man    afterwards;    he  was  a  sergeant  in  charge    of    a    squad.     I 
do  not  know  his  name  or  regiment;  I  must  have  been  some  eight  feet  from  him. 
Captain  Wirz  was  not  present  at  that  time;  at  least  I  did  not  see  him.    The  next 
instance  was  July  26th;    I  cannot  tell  where  that  man  was  shot;    he  was  shot 
inside  the  stockade  by  a  sentinel.     On  the  4th  of  August  two  men  were  shot;  I  do 
not  know  where  they  were  shot ;  I  do  not  know  their  names ;  they  were  shot  inside 
the  stockade.     The  next  instance  of  shooting  was  on  the  6th  of  August;  I  do  not 
know  who  the  man  was  who  was  then  shot;   I  do  not  know  whether  any  of  the 
others,  except  the  first  one  I  have  mentioned,  died;  I  merely  made  a  memorandum 
at  the  time  the  event  occurred.     The  next  instance  was  on  the  25th  of  August;  I 
saw  that  man;  the  camp  was  all  quiet;  it  was  in  the  evening,  a  bright,  moonshiny 
night,  between  the  hours  of  ten  and  twelve;  I  heard  a  musket  fired;  I  spoke  to  the 
man  lying  alongside  of  me,  and  said  there  is  a  man  shot,  and  I  am  going  to  see 
who  it  is;  I  arose,  and  when  I  got  three  or  four  rods,  several  others  joined  me 
and  we  moved  toward  the  dead-line;  I  was  about  a  hundred  yards  from  the  dead 
line  at  that  time,  and  was  looking  towards  the  sentinel;   he  raised  his  gun  and 
shot  again;  that  was  the  second  shot  at  the  same  man,  I  suppose;  as  I  got  down 
where  I  could  see  a  third  shot  was  fired;  the  man  was  inside  the  dead-line,  up 
close  to  it,  and  the  words  he  used  were,  "See  if  you  can  kill  me  now";    I  should 
think,  by  the  conversation,  that  the  officer  of  the  guard  was  in  the  sentry-box; 
the  man  was  shot  through  the  head,  the  ball  passing  lengthwise  of  his  body;   I 
inquired  round  there  who  the  man  was,  and  they  said  he  was  a  man  who  was 
tired  of  living,  and  wanted  the  sentinel  to  shoot  him;  I  think  he  was  shot  in  the 
leg  by  the  first  discharge;  the  last  ball  proved  fatal.     The  man  died  in  the  course 
of  ten  minutes;  I  do  not  know  his  name  or  regiment;  it  was  in  the  north  end  of 
the  stockade.     The  creek  does  not  run  exactly  in  the  center  of  the  camp.     It  was 

1  Record,  p.  385  et  seq. 


296  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

in  the  larger  part  of  the  stockade  towards  the  end — about  the  middle  of  the 
stockade.  I  find  also  that  one  man  was  shot  on  the  5th  of  September;  I  do  not 
know  any  of  the  circumstances.  On  January  1,  1865,  I  saw  a  man  shot;  I  saw 
him  after  he  was  dead;  he  was  struck  in  the  head;  the  sentinel  that  shot  him  was 
near  the  south  gate;  I  know  the  circumstances  of  the  shooting;  it  was  the  last 
time  I  was  put  in  the  stockade;  I  left  there  in  September  and  went  in  there  again 
towards  the  last  of  December.  There  were  boards  piled  up  near  the  dead-line 
in  the  stockade,  and  men  who  were  destitute  of  anything  to  lie  upon  thought  that 
if  they  could  get  those  boards  they  would  make  a  floor  to  keep  them  from  lying  on 
the  ground;  after  it  was  dark  several  made  attempts  to  get  them,  and  were  success 
ful.  This  man  did  not  prove  quite  as  much  so  as  the  rest;  he  had  hold  of  the 
end  of  a  board  and  was  dragging  at  it.  It  was  a  very  cold  night,  about  ten  or  eleven 
o'clock;  the  sentry  had  gone  down  from  his  box  to  warm  himself  by  the  fire,  and 
the  fellow  took  the  opportunity  to  get  the  board,  but  in  doing  so  he  made  some 
what  of  a  noise,  which  alarmed  the  sentinel,  who  crept  to  a  crack  and  saw  the  man 
getting  the  board,  and  then  he  slyly  went  upstairs  and  shot  the  man  without  any 
warning.  I  should  think  the  boards  were  within  ten  or  fifteen  feet  of  the  stockade ; 
five  feet  from  the  dead-line,  perhaps;  I  do  not  think  the  dead-line  was  over  twenty 
feet  from  the  stockade. 

I  have  seen  acts  of  cruelty  committed  by  Captain  Wirz.  Last  September  the 
hundred  to  which  I  belonged  were  ordered  to  get  ready  and  march  out  of  the 
stockade.  As  we  marched  out — it  was  at  night,  and  there  were  fires  on  each  side 
of  the  gate,  so  that  they  could  see  to  count  the  men  off  as  they  passed  out — a  large 
fellow,  named,  I  think,  Williams,  a  rebel  sergeant,  had  a  large  stick,  or  club,  in  his 
hand.  Captain  Wirz  was  outside  of  the  gate,  and  this  Williams  got  the  men  in  four 
ranks,  so  that  they  could  be  counted,  while  another  man  counted  them  at  the  gate. 
The  men  were  so  impatient  to  get  outside  the  stockade  that  they  crowded  down  as 
near  the  gate  as  they  could  get,  and  a  great  many  who  did  not  belong  in  the 
hundreds  flanked  out.  At  last  Captain  Wirz  became  very  much  enraged  because 
the  men  crowded  down  on  him,  and  did  not  give  him  a  chance  to  get  them  into 
four  ranks,  so  that  he  could  count  them.  He  told  the  sergeant  to  knock  them 
down,  if  they  did  not  keep  back  out  of  the  way.  He  struck  down  between  the  files, 
but  hit  nobody. 

TESTIMONY  OF  ROBERT  TATE. 

Robert  Tate,  private,  52d  Pennsylvania  Volunteers,  testified  t1 
I  saw  Captain  Wirz  commit  acts  of  cruelty  while  I  was  at  Andersonville.  I  saw 
him  kick  men  who  were  not  able  to  stand  on  their  feet  at  roll-call.  About  the  first 
of  May  one  case  occurred.  It  was  a  man  who  was  very  sick  and  weak.  The  orders 
were  to  fall  into  line  in  the  morning  at  seven  o'clock  at  roll-call,  and  the  men 
were  kept  standing  there  in  the  heat  of  the  sun  until  about  twelve  o'clock.  This 
man  fell  down  out  of  the  line  and  his  comrades  rolled  him  out  alongside  under  one 
of  the  sheds  there.  Captain  Wirz  came  along  and  saw  the  man  there  and  asked  him 
what  he  was  doing  there.  The  man  told  him  he  was  sick  and  could  not  stand  in 
line.  Captain  Wirz  said,  "God  damn  your  soul,  I  will  keep  you  into  line."  He 
kicked  the  man  and  rolled  him  back  to  the  line;  the  man  lay  there  and  was  not 


1Record,  p.  388. 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  297 

able  to  stand  up.  In  the  course  of  two  days  the  man  died.  I  don't  know  what  his 
name  was  nor  his  regiment. 

The  prisoner  fired  his  pistol  at  me  one  day  for  being  out  of  line  at  roll-call.  I 
had  a  very  sore  leg  and  could  not  stand  more  than  about  half  an  hour  at  a  time. 
I  got  weak  and  left  the  line  and  went  into  the  shade  of  a  tent  and  lay  down  there; 
directly  Captain  Wirz  came  out.  I  heard  the  sound  of  his  footsteps  and  hastened 
to  get  back  into  line  so  that  he  could  not  see  me,  but  he  saw  me  and  said:  "Hold 
on  there,  you  Yankee  son  of  a  bitch."  I  commenced  running ;  he  said :  "Hold  on" ; 
I  kept  running;  he  fired  his  pistol.  I  got  back  into  line  and  tried  to  hide  myself. 
Captain  Wirz  came  along  and  wanted  to  know  where  that  man  was,  and  said  that 
he  would  not  issue  any  rations  till  the  man  was  found.  I  stepped  out  and  said: 
"Captain  Wirz,  I  have  a  sore  leg."  He  said:  "God  damn.  I  wish  the  legs  would 
rot  off  of  every  damn  son  of  a  bitch  in  the  stockade,  and  I  would  have  no  more 
trouble  with  you."  The  ball  from  his  pistol  did  not  strike  me. 

I  know  the  rations  were  stopped  on  the  1st  of  April,  1864;  I  do  not  know  the 
cause ;  I  think  it  was  on  account  of  some  trouble  at  roll-call.  There  were  too  many 
men  in  the  stockade  and  Captain  Wirz  could  not  get  the  exact  number  of  the 
prisoners;  and  he  swore  that  he  would  not  issue  rations  till  he  got  the  exact  number 
of  the  men  in  the  stockade.  He  said  that  we  got  more  than  we  deserved ;  that  if  he 
had  his  will,  he  would  not  give  us  anything  to  eat. 

I  knew  some  Libby  prisoners  who  were  put  in  the  stocks;  I  don't  know  of  any 
who  died  while  in  the  stocks;  I  don't  know  of  any  who  died  immediately  after 
being  taken  out.  I  have  known  them  to  die  in  the  course  of  three  weeks  after 
ward.  I  have  known  a  man  to  be  kept  in  the  stocks  forty-eight  hours  without  any 
thing  to  eat  or  drink,  except  what  was  smuggled  to  him;  that  was  Captain  Wirz's 
order,  not  to  give  him  anything  to  eat  or  drink  for  forty-eight  hours.  His  name 
was  B.  F.  Russell;  he  belonged  to  the  17th  Pennsylvania  Cavalry,  Company  A. 

TESTIMONY  OF  S.  J.  M.  ANDREWS. 

Samuel  J.  M.  Andrews  testified  i1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  I  belonged  to  the  17th  Illinois 
Infantry;  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  from  April  27,  1864,  till  some  time  in 
September,  1864. 

I  saw  a  good  many  cases  of  vaccination  while  there;  I  should  think  two  or  three 
hundred;  almost  all  that  I  saw  had  large  sores  upon  their  arms,  and  some  on  other 
parts  of  their  body,  from  the  size  of  a  dollar  to  that  of  the  palm  of  my  hand; 
some  had  two  on  the  same  arm,  some  one  on  each  arm ;  almost  invariably,  so  far  as 
I  knew,  amputation  was  the  result ;  death  was  the  final  result  in  almost  all  cases  of 
amputation;  I  have  known  instances  in  which  men  suffering  from  these  sores 
became  insane;  I  have  seen  two  or  three  such  cases;  I  observed  one  in  particular; 
the  man  was  in  the  same  tent  as  I  was  in  the  hospital;  he  seemed  to  be  completely 
insane;  his  agony  and  suffering  was  so  intense  that  that  seemed  to  be  the  cause  of 
his  insanity — the  suffering  which  he  endured  from  these  sores. 

I  have  not  recovered  from  the  effects  of  that  confinement  there;  I  am  still 
troubled  with  the  effects  of  what  I  suppose  to  be  scurvy;  my  mouth  and  gums 
occasionally  bleed  without  any  apparent  cause. 

1Record,  p.  390. 


298  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

Among  the  witnesses  to  the  cruelties  described  in  this  chapter,  are 
eight  who  were  in  the  rebel  service  at  Andersonville.  Their  testimony 
is  direct  and  positive.  They  saw  the  acts  of  cruelty  committed  which 
were  charged  against  Wirz.  Such  testimony  cannot  be  neutralized  or 
disputed  by  the  negative  testimony  of  others  who  testified  that  they 
neither  heard  of  nor  saw  such  acts  committed. 

I  will  not  admit,  even  by  implication,  that  the  testimony  of  the 
prisoners  is  not  entitled  to  full  credence.  But  it  is  fortunate  that  they 
are  so  completely  corroborated  by  witnesses  whose  testimony  the  de 
fenders  of  Wirz  will  not  have  the  hardihood  to  doubt. 

Here  as  elsewhere  in  this  history  of  the  Andersonville  atrocities  the 
findings  of  the  court  may  rest  upon  rebel  testimony. 

REPORTS  MADE  ON  CRUELTIES  INFLICTED  ON  UNION  PRISONERS  OF  WAR. 

The  Wirz  Military  Commission  was  not  the  only  official  body  that 
investigated  the  horrors  of  Southern  prison-pens.  Sworn  testimony 
was  the  basis  of  the  reports  which  I  venture  to  include  in  this  volume 
in  part. 

The  U.  S.  Sanitary  Commission  appointed  in  May,  1864,  a  com 
mittee  to  investigate  as  to  the  treatment  of  Union  soldiers,  prisoners, 
in  Confederate  prison-pens,  and  that  committee — consisting  of  Drs. 
Valentine  Mott  and  Edward  Delafield,  and  Governor  Morris  Wilkins, 
of  New  York,  and  Dr.  Ellerslie  Wallace,  Hon.  John  J.  Clark  Hare, 
and  Rev.  Treadwell  Walden,  of  Philadelphia — said  in  their  report 
made  some  months  later  i1 

It  is  the  same  story  everywhere;  prisoners  of  war  treated  worse  than  convicts, 
shut  up  either  in  suffocating  buildings,  or  in  out-door  inclosures,  without  even  the 
shelter  that  is  provided  for  the  beasts  of  the  field;  unsupplied  with  sufficient  food; 
supplied  with  food  and  water  injurious  and  even  poisonous;  compelled  to  live  on 
floors  often  covered  with  human  filth,  or  on  ground  saturated  with  it ;  compelled  to 
breathe  an  air  oppressed  with  an  intolerable  stench;  hemmed  in  by  a  fatal  dead 
line,  and  in  hourly  danger  of  being  shot  by  unrestrained  and  brutal  guards; 
despondent  even  to  madness,  idiocy,  and  suicide;  sick,  of  diseases  (so  congruous 
in  character  as  to  appear  and  spread  like  the  plague)  caused  by  the  torrid  sun,  by 
decaying  food,  by  filth,  by  vermin,  by  malaria,  and  by  cold;  removed  at  the  last 
moment,  and  by  hundreds  at  a  time,  to  hospitals  corrupt  as  a  sepulcher,  there,  with 
few  remedies,  little  care,  and  no  sympathy,  to  die  in  wretchedness  and  despair, 
not  only  among  strangers,  but  among  enemies  too  resentful  either  to  have  pity  or 
to  show  mercy.  These  are  positive  facts.  Tens  of  thousands  of  helpless  men  have 
been,  and  are  now  being,  disabled  and  destroyed  by  a  process  as  certain  as  poison, 

1  See  Lossing's  "Pictorial  History  of  the  Civil  War,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  593- 


CRUEL  AND  INHUMAN  TREATMENT.  299 

and  as  cruel  as  the  torture  or  burning  at  the  stake,  because  nearly  as  agonizing 
and  more  prolonged.  This  spectacle  is  daily  beheld  and  allowed  by  the  rebel 
government.  No  supposition  of  negligence,  or  indifference,  or  accident,  or  ineffi 
ciency,  or  destitution  or  necessity,  can  account  for  all  this.  So  many,  and  such 
positive  forms  of  abuse  and  wrong  cannot  come  from  negative  causes.  The  con 
clusion  is  unavoidable,  therefore,  that  these  privations  and  sufferings  have  been 
designedly  inflicted  by  the  military  and  other  authority  of  the  rebel  government, 
and  cannot  have  been  due  to  causes  which  such  authorities  could  not  control. 

Lossing,  in  comment  on  this  report,  says:1 

Such  was  the  verdict  of  a  committee  of  men  whose  ability,  honor,  integrity  and 
fidelity,  to  the  duties  demanded  by  truth  and  justice,  no  man  can  rightfully 
question.  It  is  the  testimony  of  eye  and  ear-witnesses  which  no  one,  competent  to 
speak,  has  ever  dared  to  deny.  We  read  with  feelings  of  horror  of  the  cruelty  of 
the  British  in  India,  in  blowing  their  Sepoy  prisoners  to  atoms  from  the  muzzles 
of  cannon.  That  act  was  merciful  compared  to  the  fiendishness  exhibited  toward 
Union  prisoners  in  the  late  Civil  War.  We  read  with  feelings  of  horror  of  the 
tortures  formerly  inflicted  upon  prisoners  by  the  savages  of  our  wilderness.  These 
were  mild  sufferings  compared  with  those  to  which  the  conspirators  and  their 
instruments  subjected  the  soldiers  of  the  Republic  when  they  fell  into  their  hands. 

With  this  Report  in  hand,  United  States  Senator  Howard  in  a  speech  in  the 
Senate,  said,  "The  testimony  is  as  clear  as  the  noonday  sun,  that  their  barbarities 
were  deliberately  practiced  upon  our  men  for  the  double  purpose  of  crippling  and 
reducing  our  armed  force,  and  of  striking  terror  into  the  Northern  population  in 
order  to  prevent  enlistments.  There  does  not  remain  ground  for  a  doubt  that  the 
rebel  government  designedly  resorted  to  the  slow  process  of  torture  and  death  by 
starvation,  and  to  freezing  and  starving  united,  operating  minute  by  minute,  hour 
by  hour,  day  by  day,  week  by  week,  and  month  by  month,  until  the  man  became  a 
living  skeleton  and  idiot,  no  longer  able  to  recognize  his  wife,  his  children,  or  his 
friends;  no  longer  of  any  value  either  to  himself  or  to  his  country;  and  this  for 
the  purpose  of  weakening  our  military  arm  and  deterring  our  people  from  prose 
cuting  the  war." 

A  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  appointed  July  10, 
1867,  and  consisting  of  John  P.  C.  Shanks,  of  Indiana;  William  A. 
Pile,  of  Missouri;  Abner  C.  Harding,  of  Illinois;  Aaron  F.  Stevens, 
of  New  Hampshire,  and  William  Munger,  of  Ohio,  to  investigate 
"treatment  of  prisoners  of  war  and  Union  citizens  by  the  so-called 
Confederate  Government,"  said:2 

The  subsequent  history  of  Andersonville,  has  startled  and  shocked  the  world 
with  a  tale  of  horror,  of  woe,  and  death,  before  unheard  and  unknown  to  civiliza 
tion.  No  pen  can  describe,  no  painter  sketch,  no  imagination  comprehend  its  fearful 
and  unutterable  iniquity.  It  would  seem  as  if  the  concentrated  madness  of  earth 
and  hell  had  found  its  final  lodgment  in  the  breasts  of  those  who  inaugurated  the 
Rebellion  and  controlled  the  policy  of  the  Confederate  Government,  and  that  the 
prison  at  Andersonville  had  been  selected  for  the  most  terrible  human  sacrifice 

1  See  Lossing's  "Pictorial  History  of  the  Civil  War,"  Vol.  Ill,  p.  593. 

3  House  of  Representatives,   Fortieth  Congress,  Third  Session,   Report  No.   45. 


300  THE    TRAGEDY    OF    ANDEBSONVILLE. 

which  the  world  had  ever  seen.  Into  its  narrow  walls  were  crowded  thirty-five 
thousand  enlisted  men,  many  of  them  the  bravest  and  best,  the  most  devoted  and 
heroic  of  those  grand  armies  which  carried  the  flag  of  their  country  to  final  victory. 
For  long  and  weary  months  here  they  suffered,  maddened,  were  murdered,  and  died. 
Here  they  lingered,  unsheltered  from  the  burning  rays  of  a  tropical  sun  by  day, 
and  drenching  and  deadly  dews  by  night,  in  every  stage  of  mental  and  physical 
disease,  hungered,  emaciated,  starving,  maddened;  festering  with  unhealed  wounds; 
gnawed  by  the  ravages  of  scurvy  and  gangrene,  with  swollen  limbs  and  distorted 
visage;  covered  with  vermin  which  they  had  no  power  to  extirpate;  exposed  to 
the  flooding  rains  which  drove  them  drowning  from  the  miserable  holes  in  which, 
like  swine,  they  burrowed;  parched  with  thirst  and  mad  with  hunger;  racked  with 
pain  or  prostrated  with  the  weakness  of  dissolution,  with  naked  limbs  and  matted 
hair;  filthy  with  smoke  and  mud;  soiled  with  the  very  excrement  from  which 
their  weakness  would  not  permit  them  to  escape;  eaten  by  the  gnawing  worms 
which  their  own  wounds  had  engendered,  with  no  bed  but  the  earth,  no  covering 
save  the  clouds  or  the  sky;  and  these  men,  these  heroes,  born  in  the  image  of  God, 
thus  crouching  and  writhing  in  their  terrible  torture,  a  loathsome,  horrible  sight, 
the  mutilated,  murdered  victims  of  a  cool  and  calculating  barbarity,  stand  forth  in 
history  as  a  monument  of  the  surpassing  horrors  of  Andersonville,  as  it  shall  be 
seen  and  read  in  all  future  time,  realizing  in  the  studied  torments  of  their  prison 
house  the  ideal  of  Dante's  Inferno  and  Milton's  Hell. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TESTIMONY  OF  WITNESSES  FOR  DEFENSE  UPON  THE  SPECIFICATIONS  OF  ACTS  OP 
CRUELTY  AND  OF  MURDER  IN  VIOLATION  OF  THE  LAWS  OF  WAR — MAN  SHOT 
ON  DEAD  LINE — HUNTED  DOWN  BY  DOGS — PUT  IN  STOCKS  AND  CHAIN  GANG — 
WIRZ  KICKED  AND  ABUSED  PRISONERS  —  VERY  PROFANE  —  HIGH  TEMPER — 
CARRIED  PISTOL — THREATENED  TO  USE  IT — SOME  ACTS  OF  KINDNESS  SHOWN — 
WITNESSES  NEVER  HEARD  OF  His  KILLING  OR  TREATING  A  PRISONER  CRUELLY, 

IT  would  seem  unnecessary  to  quote  further  from  the  Record  in  sup 
port  of  the  specifications  now  being  considered.  It  remains  to 
notice  the  exculpatory  evidence  introduced  by  the  defense  either  in 
palliation  or  denial  of  the  mass  of  proof  introduced  by  the  prosecution, 
and  also  as  bearing  on  the  charge  of  murder  to  be  particularly  noticed 
in  the  next  chapter. 

Some  of  the  witnesses  called  for  the  defense  were  not  examined 
on  these  subjects  and  will  not  be  quoted.  Those  who  testified  to  facts 
tending  to  mitigate  or  explain  or  deny  the  cruelties  of  Wirz,  will  now 
be  given  opportunity  to  speak  in  his  behalf. 

Nazareth  Allen,  a  rebel  soldier,  recalled  for  the  defense,  testified 
that  Captain  Wirz  rode  a  gray  or  white  horse ;  that  he  never  "knew  of 
him  having  a  sorrel  or  roan  horse." 

I  never  knew  a  man  to  get  a  furlough  for  shooting  a  Union  prisoner.  I  have 
heard  some  little  talk  of  it,  but  I  never  knew  of  its  being  done;  I  just  heard  a. 
little  sort  of  rumor.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  it.  I  never  heard  of  any 
particular  man  who  got  such  a  furlough.  1 

TESTIMONY  OF  CAPTAIN  ARMSTRONG 

Captain  Armstrong,  C.  S.  A.,  on  duty  at  Andersonville  from  March 
to  August  and  again  from  December  to  the  end.  His  duty  was  to- 
receive  stores.  He  testified: 

I  never  knew  or  heard  of  any  Confederate  soldier  getting  a  furlough  for  shoot 
ing  a  Union  prisoner.  I  never  knew  or  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  shooting,  killing,, 
or  in  any  way  injuring  a  Union  prisoner  while  I  was  there. 

I  was  not  familiar  with  the  business  going  on  at  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters, 
or  at  the  headquarters  of  the  commandant  of  the  post.  I  would  not  know  any 
thing  about  granting  furloughs  if  there  had  been  any  granted. 

While  I  was  there,  previous  to  August,  I  was  not  familiar  with  Captain  Wirz'a 
conduct.  After  that  time  I  became  more  intimate  and  better  acquainted  with 
him.  2 

1  Record,  p.  471. 

2  Record,  p.  661. 


302  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  BATES. 

Dr.  Bates,  surgeon  at  Andersonville,  recalled,  testified: 

I  never  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  shooting,  beating,  kicking  or  otherwise  mal 
treating  Union  prisoners  while  I  was  at  Andersonville. 

Captain  Wirz  was  never  absent  from  duty  when  he  was  sick,  to  my  knowledge.1 

Q.  You  spoke  of  Captain  Wirz  looking  feeble  at  one  time;  for  how  long  a 
time  was  that  his  appearance? 

A.  Well,  sir,  I  did  not  see  him  for  some  time  after  that.  I  did  not  make  it 
an  object  to  go  over.  I  saw  him  occasionally  after  that,  and  he  looked  better. 
Captain  Wirz  I  suppose  began  to  improve  perhaps  in  October;  I  did  not  see 
him  very  often.  I  do  not  know  whether  he  was  ever  released  from  duty  Because 
he  was  sick;  I  never  saw  anything  to  indicate  that. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  CASTELEN. 

Dr.  Castelen,  rebel  surgeon,  testified: 

I  never  knew  or  heard  anything  about  furloughs  being  granted  to  any  of  our 
men  for  shooting  Union  soldiers. 

I  saw  Captain  Wirz's  horse  two  or  three  times.  I  never  saw  him  have  a  sorrel 
horse.  I  never  saw  Captain  Wirz  with  any  kind  of  a  horse  but  a  gray  horse.2  I 
never  knew  or  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  shooting  or  beating  a  man  with  a  revolver, 
or  in  any  way  maltreating  a  man  so  as  to  kill  him;  if  such  a  thing  had  been  done 
I  should  not  have  heard  it  except  from  rumors  in  the  camp;  I  might  have  heard 
of  it  in  that  way.  I  was  at  Andersonville  from  May,  1864,  till  the  last  of  Sep 
tember. 

My  duties  did  not  require  me  to  visit  Captain  Wirz  very  frequently.  I  don't 
think  I  visited  Captain  Wirz  while  I  was  there.  My  duties  did  not  require  me 
to  visit  the  stockade  or  prison.  I  know  no  more  about  the  stockade  or  Captain 
Wirz  than  what  I  stated  in  my  evidence  when  I  was  first  on  the  stand. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  FLEWELLEN. 

Dr.  E.  A  Flewellen,  inspected  the  prison  hospital  in  August ;  again 
in  November  and  again  in  January.  He  was  recalled  for  the  defense 

and  testified  :3 

Q.  At  any  time  while  you  were  at  Andersonville  did  you  hear  of  Captain 
Wirz  shooting,  beating  with  a  pistol,  or  in  any  way  maltreating  Union  prisoners? 

A.     I  never  heard  anything  of  the  kind. 

Q.     If  such  a  thing  occurred  would  you  not  have  been  likely  to  hear  of  it? 

A.  I  made  an  honest  effort  while  I  was  there  to  arrive  at  all  evils  connected 
with  the  prison  hospital,  and  indirectly  with  the  prison  itself,  and  I  should  have 
thought  the  officers  I  conferred  with  very  derelict  in  their  duty  if  they  had  not 
reported  anything  of  the  kind  that  they  knew;  I  made  an  honest  effort  to  get 
at  the  facts. 

1  Record,  p.  664.     Wirz's  illness  and  absence  from  duty  were  urged  as  in  the  nature  of  an 

alibi. 

8  Witnesses  for  the  prosecution  testified  to  having  seen  Wirz  riding  a  white  or  roan  horse. 
*  Record,  p.  474. 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. 


304  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  AXDEKSOXYILLE. 

TESTIMONY  OF  DR.  ROY. 

Dr.  G.  G.  Roy  was  recalled  for  the  defense.  He  went  to  Anderson 
ville,  September,  1864.  He  testified  r1 

During  the  month  of  September  Captain  Wirz  was  sick;  I  did  not  see  him 
except  on  one  occasion;  that  was  at  his  house.  I  was  called  to  take  charge  of 
a  number  of  assistant  surgeons  to  go  and  attend  a  collision  that  occurred,  which 
happened  just  about  half  a  mile  below  Captain  Wire's  house.  He  was  sick  two- 
thirds  of  September,  if  not  aH  of  it.  During  that  month  he  was  sick  most  of 
the  time;  in  other  words  he  was  not  on  duty.  My  going  to  his  house  was  alto 
gether  accidental;  I  did  not  attend  him  professionally,  but  I  had  to  pass  there  in 
going  a  half  mile  below  his  house  to  reach  this  train  that  had  run  off  the  track. 
There  were  a  number  of  killed  and  wounded.  I  stopped  at  his  house,  and,  if 
the  court  will  excuse  the  expression,  I  took  there  a  drink  of  whiskey  and  a  cup 
of  coffee.  He  was  not  in  bed;  he  was  unable  to  be  at  his  office  in  Andersonville. 

I  have  sometimes  in  the  hospital  dressed  the  wounds  of  men  who  had  been 
injured,  but  generally  my  assistant  did  that.  I  never  dressed  one  who  had  been 
wounded  with  a  pistol  or  a  revolver  there  at  Andersonville;  I  never  knew  of  any 
such  ease;  I  never  knew  or  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  shooting  or  beating  a  man  to 
death  while  I  was  at  Andersonville. 

I  had  knowledge  of  the  condition  of  Captain  Wire's  arm  while  I  was  at  Ander 
sonville;  I  saw  it  often.  I  tried  to  treat  him,  but  he  would  not  let  me  do  so; 
not,  I  believe,  because  he  had  not  confidence  in  my  treatment,  but  he  thought  it 
might  get  well  of  itself;  that  was  his  expression. 

The  prisoner  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Baker  removed  a  portion  of  the  covering 
from  his  right  arm. 

Q.  Examine  the  prisoner's  arm  and  see  what  is  its  present  condition,  and  state 
what  was  its  condition  then  as  compared  with  its  present  condition* 

A.  From  my  knowledge  of  his  arm  and  my  professional  knowledge,  I  do 
not  think  he  would  be  able  to  strike  a  man  and  knock  him  down  with  that  arm. 
I  should  not  t>"Tifc  he  would  be  able,  in  any  way,  to  strike  a  man  down  with  any 
thing  in  the  hand  of  that  arm.  He  might  defend  himself  with  that  arm  in  its 
disabled  condition,  in  a  certain  way;  I  mean  he  might  feebly  defend  himself, 
but  it  would  not  be  such  a  defense  as  I  would  like  to  have.  I  think  he  could  not 
with  that  arm  or  hand  grapple  or  shake  any  one.  I  have  not  seen  Captain  Wirz's 
left  shoulder;  I  have  not  examined  it. 

I  never  knew  or  heard  of  any  Confederate  soldiers  getting  a  furlough  for 
shooting  a  Union  prisoner  while  I  was  there. 

I  was  not  with  him  except  on  certain  occasions,  which  I  can  mention.  I 
can  remember  some  other  occasions  when  I  met  him,  besides  at  the  depot;  but 
so  seldom  that  they  did  not  impress  me.  I  would  say  to  the  court  that  I  rented 
a  house  two  miles  from  Andersonville,  and  I  had  there  my  wife  and  children.  I 
usually  visited  the  hospital  between  eight  and  nine  o'clock.  I  always  had  an 
officer  of  the  day,  who  was  responsible  for  the  administration  of  the  hospital 
during  the  day  and  night.  In  coming  to  the  hospital  I  did  not  go  by  Captain 

1  Record,  p.  656  et  seq.  We  have  official  reports  signed  by  Wirz  in  September  and  he  gave 
Dr.  Jones  passes  into  the  prison  while  he  was  there. 


VIOLATION  OF  BULES  OF  WAE.  Iff 

Wirz's  headquarters  by  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile.  I  went  directly  to  the  hospital 
and  attended  to  my  duties.  Very  frequently  I  would  stay  there  after  I  git 
through  my  dnties,  to  see  the  prisoners  play  cricket,  and  things  of  that  sort,  just 
to  look  at  their  amusements.  I  very  seldom  saw  Captain  Wirz  except  at  the 
depot. 

I  never  saw  Captain  Wirz  engage  in  any  effort  to  defend  himself 
attacks  of  prisoners  or  anything  of  the  kind.  I  have  never  seen  him 
himself  in  any  respect.  I  have  never  seen  him  in  any  beffigerent 
ever.  My  opinion  with  regard  to  the  disability  of  his  arm  is  simply  a 
one;  judging  from  its  nature  and  appearance,  that  it  would  not  be  a  very  service 
able  arm  in  such  a  contest,  and  that  is  all  I  know  about  it- 
Captain  Wirz's  headquarters,  when  I  first  arrived  at  AndersonviHe,  were  in  a 
tent  adjoining  Dr.  White;  I  met  him  very  frequently  then  because  I  had  to  pass 
right  by  his  tent  door  to  go  over  to  the  depot.  I  cannot  answer  how  long  that 
tent  was  there;  it  was  there  a  week  and  a  fortnight, — I  think,  probably  a  month; 
it  was  in  the  month  of  September.  I  met  him  very  seldom,  because  he  was 
brought  in  in  an  ambulance;  he  came  to  his  office  to  look  over  his  records,  and 
was  carried  directly  back.  I  cannot  say  if  that  was  the  case  during  all  that 
month;  it  was  so,  so  far  as  my  knowledge  goes,  most  of  the  time  during  that 
month. 

Q.  When  you  say  that  he  was  sick,  you  do  not  mean  to  say  that  he  was  so 
siek  that  he  did  not  come  to  camp? 

A.  He  came  there.  He  was  reported  as  being  unfit  for  duty  by  the  surgeon 
who  was  attending  him;  I  believe  it  was  Dr.  White  or  Dr.  Stevenson.  So  far 
as  I  know  he  did  not  come  in  camp  every  day  in  an  ambulance.  Let 
an  explanation.  Captain  Wirz  occupied  half  of  a  house  owned  by  a 
Boss,  about  two  miles  from  Andersonville.  During  the  month  of  September 
he  was  most  of  the  time  unable  to  perform  any  active  military  duty.  There  was 
no  one,  so  far  as  I  know,  to  occupy  his  place  in  his  office,  because  his  duties  were 
very  peculiar;  and  he  came  down  in  an  ambulance  whenever  he  was  able,  when 
ever  his  fever  was  off  him  or  whenever  he  was  able  to  look  over  his  list,  which 
was  made  out  by  a  man  named  Martin,  who  was  a  paroled  Federal  prisoner  and 
who  was  his  clerk.  ... 

Rev.  Mr.  Duncan  testified  that  he  preached  to  the  Union  soldiers 
on  several  occasions  and  while  there  he  ''never  heard  of  Captain  "Wirz 
shooting,  killing,  kicking  or  otherwise  injuring  a  prisoner:  I  heard 
nothing  on  that  score."1 

The  testimony  of  Rev.  Father  Whelan  has  been  given  in  a  previous 
chapter. 

TESTIMONY  OF  REV.  W.  J.  HAMILTON. 

Rev.  Father  Hamilton  was  recalled  for  the  defense.  He  testified 
also  quite  fully  for  the  prosecution.  His  testimony  for  the  defense 
was  brief  and  is  as  follows:2 

1  Record,  p.  610. 

2  Record,  p.  425. 


306  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

I  have  been  at  Andersonville  frequently;  I  had  an  opportunity  of  observing 
the  conduct  of  Captain  Wirz  while  I  was  there  to  a  very  limited  extent.  It 
seemed  to  me  that  he  was  disposed  to  do  everything  in  his  power  for  their  spiritual 
comfort,  and  as  far  as  I  could  see  for  their  bodily  comfort  also.  He  gave  me 
every  facility  in  the  pursuit  of  my  object. 

I  had  no  complaints  made  to  me  by  prisoners  of  ill-treatment  on  the  part  of 
Captain  Wirz;  I  never  heard  of  any  prisoner  dying  from  any  such  treatment 
from  the  hands  of  Captain  Wirz,  nor  from  any  personal  violence  from  him;  I 
never  knew  of  a  prisoner  being  torn  by  dogs  there;  nothing  of  the  kind.  In 
declining  to  answer  the  question  put  to  me  the  other  day  by  the  Judge  Advocate, 
I  did  not  decline  on  the  ground  that  the  answer  would  in  any  way  prejudice 
Captain  Wirz  or  make  against  him.i 

TESTIMONY  OF  COLONEL  FANNIN. 

Colonel  Fannin,  recalled  for  the  defense.  He  was  asked  about  fur 
loughs  being  granted  for  shooting  prisoners  and  replied:  "I  am  sat 
isfied  it  was  never  done."  He  testified  further  :2 

There  never  was  an  application  of  that  kind  made  to  me  that  I  know  of;  if 
there  had  been  such  an  application  I  think  I  would  have  recollected  it;  I  was 
never  requested  by  any  one  to  give  a  guard  a  furlough  because  he  had  shot  a 
Union  prisoner;  I  recollect  on  one  occasion  there  was  a  man  applying  for  a 
furlough  who,  it  appeared,  had  shot  one  or  two  Union  prisoners  for  crossing  the 
dead-line  at  night,  and  it  was  remarked  by  some  one,  when  he  made  the  applica 
tion,  that  he  was  a  good  shot  and  that  he  ought  to  be  furloughed;  but  there  was 
no  furlough  granted  and  no  application  made  on  that  ground;  the  reason  that 
remark  was  made  was  that  a  great  many  prisoners  had  crossed  the  dead-line,  and 
had  traded  a  good  deal  with  the  guards;  they  used  to  tie  their  watches  to  strings 
and  exchange  them  with  the  guards  for  potatoes;  the  remark  was  made  in  this 
way  to  show  that  this  man  had  not  been  bribed,  and  had  not  been  trading  with 
the  prisoners.  .  .  . 

Captain  Wirz  had  control  of  the  guards  after  they  were  turned  over  to  him, 
until  a  new  guard  was  furnished  to  take  their  place.  I  do  not  know  whether 
he  ever  inflicted  punishment  on  them  or  not.  He  could  arrest  them,  I  suppose, 
if  they  did  not  do  their  duty,  and  I  understood  he  did  arrest  some  and  prefer 
charges.  He  was  recognized  as  a  captain  in  the  rebel  army.  I  saw  that  he 
signed  himself  as  assistant  adjutant-general,  and  gave  transportation,  but  not 
until  this  year.  He  was  a  staff  officer  of  General  Winder's. 

Q.  Could  he  not  exercise  the  same  power  as  General  Winder,  by  reason  of  his 
being  a  staff  officer;  and  did  he  not  so  issue  transportation? 

A.  He  did  issue  transportation  on  the  railroad  from  Andersonville  to  other 
points.  I  obtained  a  furlough  from  him  once;  I  said  he  could  not  give  a  fur 
lough  to  a  soldier  unless  when  he  was  in  command  of  the  post.  Then  it  was 

1  Many  rebel  witnesses  as  well  as  prisoners  testified  to  the  facts  met  only  by  this  negative 
witness. 

*  Record,  p.  433  et  seq. 


VIOLATION  OF  EULES  OF  WAR.  307 

necessary  for  him  to  approve  a  furlough.  He  did  approve  a  furlough  for  me 
when  he  was  in  command  of  the  post.  I  presume  he  gave  other  furloughs  when 
he  was  in  command  of  the  post;  I  never  saw  it;  I  understood  that  General  Winder 
was  in  supreme  command  while  there. 

I  knew  Captain  Wirz  had  command  of  the  prison;  I  was  not  a  familiar  asso 
ciate  of  Captain  Wirz;    I  did  not  see  him  every  day.     He  was  not  an  associate 
of  mine.     His  business  and  place  of  business  were  entirely  different  from  mine. 
Q.    Did  not  the  officers  shun  him,  regarding  him  as  a  man  not  fit  for  their 
association? 

Objected  to,  and  modified  so  as  to  apply  only  to  witness. 

I  did  not  associate  a  great  deal  with  Captain  Wirz.  Our  business  was  dif 
ferent;  I  had  other  friends  at  the  post.  I  had  plenty  to  associate  with;  I  did 
not  select  him  while  there  as  an  associate.  I  was  in  the  stockade  three  times, 
I  think,  while  I  was  on  duty  there.  I  was  in  the  stockade  I  think  in  June, 
1864,  when  Colonel  Persons  was  in  command,  and  I  think  the  other  time  I  was 
there  was  in  1865,  when  Colonel  Gibbs  was  in  command.  The  only  time  I  was 
in  the  stockade  in  1864,  was  once  in  June,  I  think;  I  was  not  familiar  enough  in 
Captain  Wirz's  headquarters  to  know  all  that  was  going  on  there.  My  business 
was  elsewhere.  Part  of  the  time  my  office  was  half  a  mile  from  his,  and  part 
of  the  time  it  was  not  more  than  two  or  three  hundred  yards,  but  all  this  year 
my  office  was  away  from  his  nearly  half  a  mile;  I  cannot  say  that  I  knew  what 
was  doing  in  there.  I  have  never  known  an  application  for  a  furlough  on  the 
grounds  of  a  soldier  having  shot  a  Yankee  prisoner.  So  far  as  I  am  concerned, 
I  do  not  know  that  any  application  was  ever  made  to  me  on  that  score.  I  would 
not  influence  a  man  to  shoot  prisoners  unnecessarily.  I  certainly  would  not  hold 
out  that  inducement. 

Q.  Then  you  would  not  very  likely  have  found  it  embodied  in  the  application 
as  one  of  the  reasons  why  a  furlough  should  be  granted? 

A.  So  far  as  that  is  concerned,  I  do  not  think  a  man  would  state  that  in  his 
application. 

Q.  From  what  you  know  of  General  Winder's  power  there,  and  of  Captain 
Wirz's  influence  as  staff  officer,  would  not  his  or  their  approval  have  secured  a 
furlough  for  any  soldier? 

A.  General  Winder's  certainly  would;  there  is  no  doubt  of  that. 
I  never  knew  Captain  Wirz  to  commit  any  act  of  cruelty  towards  prisoners 
of  war  of  my  own  personal  knowledge.  I  never  saw  it.  I  have  been  near  the 
post  when  prisoners  arrived  and  were  being  carried  off.  Some  of  them  would 
get  out  of  place  when  standing  in  ranks,  and  I  have  heard  Captain  Wirz  curse 
men  for  being  out  of  their  places  and  say  that  he  would  shoot  them  if  they  did 
not  get  into  line.  I  have  seen  him  draw  a  pistol  on  the  men.  He  was  a  profane 
man.  I  have  heard  him  swear  and  curse  a  good  deal.  A  great  many  men  in 
his  office  seemed  to  be  getting  on  with  him  very  well.  I  have  heard  him  talk 
sociably  with  them,  and  I  have  heard  him  swear  and  curse  them  sometimes.  I 
did  not  say  that  I  never  heard  of  any  act  of  cruelty  on  his  part.  That  was  not 
what  I  intended  to  say.  I  have  heard  a  good  deal  sworn  against  him  on  the 
stand  here,  and  when  at  Andersonville  I  heard  of  men  being  in  the  stocks,  and 
I  have  seen  them  in  the  stocks.  I  have  seen  men  in  the  chain-gang. 


308  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

TESTIMONY  OF  SAMUEL  HALL. 

Samuel  Hall,  recalled  for  defense,  testified:1 

Q.  What  do  you  know  about  Captain  Wirz  being  sick  in  August,  or  at  any 
time? 

A.  Well,  the  first  time  I  ever  saw  Captain  Wirz  in  my  life,  I  think,  was  in 
the  month  of  August.  He  had  the  appearance  then  of  having  recovered  from  a 
spell  of  sickness.  He  was  feeble  and  emaciated.  When  he  was  taken  sick,  or 
how  long  he  was  sick,  I  don't  know. 

Q.  What  is  the  law  in  relation  to  the  employment  of  dogs  to  search  for  pris 
oners  and  such  like  in  the  State  of  Georgia? 

A.  There  is  no  law  on  the  subject  of  hunting  prisoners  in  Georgia.  Dogs 
are  used  for  tracking  felons,  violators  of  the  law,  and  for  tracking  runaway 
slaves.  By  the  laws  of  Georgia  you  cannot  pursue  anybody  with  ferocious, 
savage  dogs. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  We  do  not  want  a  judicial  opinion.  Tell  us  the  au 
thority. 

A.  It  is  a  statute  of  the  State  and  a  decision  of  the  supreme  court  on  that 
statute  to  which  I  refer.  It  is  the  18th  volume  Georgia  Reports;  the  case  of 
Morgan  versus  Davis.  I  argued  the  case  before  the  supreme  court  for  the  counsel 
for  the  plaintiff  in  error,  who  was  absent. 

[The  Judge  Advocate  objected  to  the  testimony  as  irrelevant  and  immaterial, 
to  say  nothing  of  placing  men  who  fought  for  their  country  on  the  level  of 
common  felons.  Mr.  Baker  contended  that  the  evidence  was  proper.  He  wanted 
to  show  by  this  witness  that  dogs  might  be  by  the  laws  of  Georgia  used  to  track 
colored  people  and  prisoners.] 

THE  WITNESS.     I  stated  distinctly  that  I  knew  of  no  law  covering  this  case. 

[Mr.  Baker  said  that  he  wished  to  get  from  this  witness  such  facts  as  he  could 
get  bearing  on  that  point,  and  that  he  would  finally  show  that  by  the  laws  of 
the  United  States,  the  use  of  dogs  for  such  purpose  was  authorized;  that  the 
United  States  government  was  the  first  to  authorize  and  command  the  use  of 
hounds  to  track  human  beings  in  this  country.] 

GENERAL  THOMAS.    I  suppose  you  mean  in  Florida. 

MB.  BAKER.  I  shall  trace  it  to  several  places,  and  I  shall  follow  that  up  by 
showing  that  these  people  were  bound  by  law  to  do  what  they  were  commanded 
to  do  by  their  superior  officers. 

[After  deliberation,  the  decision  of  the  court  was  announced,  sustaining  the 
objection.  Examination  resumed:] 

I  do  not  know  any  laws  in  reference  to  the  recapture  of  prisoners.  There 
was  a  law  forbidding  the  inhabitants  to  entertain  or  harbor  our  prisoners.  There 
was  a  State  law  against  it,  making  it  a  capital  felony.  I  have  never  seen  pris 
oners  who  were  brought  back  to  Andersonville  searched  there.  I  never  witnessed 
any  searching  there.  The  fact  never  came  to  me  officially.  I  only  know  of 
that  from  what  others  told  me.  I  know  nothing  in  the  world  about  the  effort  of 
Captain  Wirz  to  exchange  the  prisoners,  or  anything  of  that  sort,  except  what 
Captain  Wirz  told  me. 

I  was  not  often  at  the  prison;  I  was  at  the  post  frequently. 

1  Record,  p.  492. 


VIOLATION  OF  RULES  OF  WAR.  309 

Q.  Did  you  at  any  time  know  or  hear  of  Captain  Wirz  shooting  or  beating  a 
prisoner  with  a  pistol,  or  killing  him  in  any  other  way? 

A.  No,  sir;  I  never  heard  about  that.  It  was  not  my  business  to  search  into 
it.  Any  testimony  that  I  can  give  on  that  subject  is  merely  negative.  I  saw 
Captain  Wirz  riding  a  white  mare. 

Q.  You  know  how  to  prove  that  a  thing  was  not  done;  is  it  not  always  proved 
by  negative  testimony? 

[The  Judge  Advocate  objected.  It  was  for  the  court,  not  for  the  witness,  to 
decide  that.  Objection  sustained.] 

I  do  not  know  how  often  I  was  at  Andersonville.  I  may  have  been  there 
twenty  times.  I  never  went  there  unless  I  had  business.  All  my  observations 
there  were  based  upon  these  twenty  visits — I  do  not  think  they  exceeded  that 
number.  I  did  not  always  see  Captain  Wirz  when  I  went  there.  I  cannot  say 
the  number  of  times  I  saw  him.  I  most  generally  saw  him  there.  I  know  noth 
ing  in  the  world  about  the  management  of  that  interior  prison. 

TESTIMONY   OF   W.    D.    HAMMACK. 

W.  D.  Hammack,  a  rebel  soldier  on  duty  at  Andersonville,  testified  r1 

I  never  saw  or  knew  of  Captain  Wirz  going  with  the  hounds  at  any  time.  I 
never  saw  the  dogs  sent  after  Confederate  soldiers.  Turner  had  a  pack  of  dogs 
at  the  post  and  there  was  a  pack  in  the  country;  I  have  seen  those  hounds,  but 
I  do  not  think  they  belonged  to  the  post.  Those  dogs  of  Turner's  were  common 
fox  dogs.  I  suppose  I  never  knew  anything  about  a  man  who  had  been  bitten 
by  dogs  dying  at  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters.  I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing; 
not  while  I  was  at  Andersonville. 

Captain  Wirz's  horse  was  a  gray  mare;  I  never  saw  him  ride  a  sorrel  or  roan 
horse.  I  never  knew  of  such  a  horse  belonging  to  him  being  about  his  quarters, 
not  of  his. 

I  never  knew  Captain  Wirz  to  shoot  or  beat  a  prisoner  so  that  he  died  while 
I  was  there.  I  never  heard  of  it  while  I  was  at  Andersonville. 

I  never  shot  a  prisoner  of  war  or  saw  one  shot;  I  never  saw  any  of  the  sen 
tries  fire  when  I  was  up  on  the  stoops ;  I  heard  the  report  of  guns  very  frequently ; 
I  cannot  say  whether  from  the  stockade  or  from  around  the  post.  I  know  they 
were  fired  about  the  post. 

Q.  You  say  you  have  known  frequent  occasions  when  prisoners  of  war  had 
been  brought  out  of  the  stockade  who  had  been  shot? 

A.  No,  I  do  not  say  I  knew  it  frequently;  I  have  seen,  I  think,  four  or  five 
fetched  out  of  the  stockade,  to  the  best  of  my  knowledge. 

I  never  heard  of  soldiers  procuring  furloughs  for  shooting  Union  prisoners. 
The  first  thing  I  ever  heard  about  it  was  when  Furlow's  battalion  came  there. 
I  heard  some  of  their  men  speaking  about  it.  Then  it  got  into  the  re 
serve  regiments — that  if  a  man  shot  a  Federal  prisoner  he  would  get  a  thirty 
days'  furlough.  But  I  do  not  think  any  man  could  say  where  the  report  started 
from.  I  do  not  think  it  could  be  traced  back.  I  do  not  know  anything  at  all 
about  the  fact,  only  what  I  heard  men  say.  I  was  not  on  duty  in  the  adjutant's 


1  Record,  p.  502  et  seq. 


- 


310  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

office;  I  don't  know  how  our  men  got  furloughs  if  they  got  any;  I  did  not  see 
the  applications.  I  do  not  know  anything  about  them  officially. 

Captain  Wirz  never  shot  or  beat  or  kicked  a  prisoner  of  war  while  I  was  on 
duty  there  to  my  knowledge.  I  have  not  told  any  person  since  I  have  been  a 
witness  in  Washington,  that  I  have  seen  him  kick  and  abuse  prisoners  of  war. 
I  have  said  that  I  have  seen  him  take  hold  of  men  like  any  officer  would,  when 
the  men  were  standing  in  full  ranks,  and  draw  them  to  their  places  if  they  were 
not  exactly  right.  He  generally  spoke  short  to  them.  He  did  not  speak  kindly 
to  anybody;  he  always  spoke  short.  He  was  very  profane,  one  of  the  profanest 
men  I  ever  saw.  He  had  a  very  severe  temper.  I  never  saw  him  mistreat  a 
prisoner  of  war,  unless  you  call  it  mistreating  to  take  hold  of  a  man  and  draw 
him  up  to  his  place.  I  am  not  positive  that  he  cursed  him  at  the  same  time, 
but  it  is  more  than  likely  he  did,  because  that  was  his  natural  style  of  conver 
sation.  I  saw  men  in  the  stocks.  I  saw  them  wearing  ball  and  chain.  I  do 
not  think  I  ever  saw  anything  else  of  the  kind.  I  never  saw  men  tied  up  by  the 
thumbs;  I  never  saw  them  whipped. 

I  have  seen  a  pistol  in  his  hand  a  good  many  times.  I  do  not  know  that  I  ever 
saw  him  draw  it;  I  know  he  would  draw  it  for  a  whole  squad,  and  would  threaten 
to  shoot  them  if  they  did  not  do  so  and  so;  but  I  do  not  think  I  ever  saw  him 
draw  it  on  one  man. 

TESTIMONY  OF  COLONEL,  PERSONS. 

Colonel  Persons,  recalled  for  defense,  testified:1 

I  certainly  know  that  General  Winder  ordered  dogs  to  be  employed.  I  do 
not  remember  whether  I  told  Captain  Wirz,  or  served  him  with  the  order;  I  am 
safe  in  saying,  however,  that  he  had  notice  of  the  fact  that  that  was  General 
Winder's  order.  I  do  not  understand  that  the  dogs  were  bloodhounds;  they 
were  the  rabbit  dogs  that  we  use  down  there  for  running  rabbits,  and  which  are 
sometimes  used  for  running  negroes — a  very  ordinary  pack  of  hounds.  I  never 
saw  the  pack  of  hounds  that  Turner  had.  There  was  a  pack  from  the  country 
of  four  or  five,  owned  by  a  man  named  Harris;  that  is  the  one  I  have  reference 
to.  Harris's  pack  was  not  used  at  the  same  time  Turner  had  his  there.  I  never 
saw  Turner  or  his  dogs.  These  were  dogs  owned  by  a  citizen  out  in  the  coun 
try.  Citizens  would  frequently  bring  in  prisoners  without  any  orders  from  any 
one  at  the  post;  it  was  purely  a  voluntary  matter  on  their  part.  I  never  knew 
of  Captain  Wirz  being  absent  with  the  hounds  hunting  prisoners.  I  never  knew 
him  to  be  absent  for  that  purpose. 

Captain  Wirz  could  not  in  any  way  give  furloughs  to  the  guards  for  shooting 
Union  prisoners.  I  never  heard  of  a  guard  obtaining  a  furlough  for  shooting  a 
Union  prisoner,  and  do  not  believe  that  there  was  any,  while  I  was  at  the  post. 
I  think  I  would  have  heard  of  it  if  any  such  thing  had  happened.  Things  might 
have  been  smuggled  through  without  my  knowing  it,  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  I 
think  I  should  have  detected  it.  If  it  was  given  to  them  as  a  reward,  I  think 
I  would  have  heard  of  it.  We  had  to  send  furloughs  for  approval  to  General 
Winder  if  they  exceeded  seven  days.  I  granted  seven  days'  furloughs.  General 

1  Record,  p.  456  et  seq. 


VIOLATION  OF  RULES  OF  WAR.  311 

Winder  was  at  Richmond.  I  do  not  know  positively  anything  about  Captain 
Wirz  relieving  the  guards  whenever  they  shot  a  prisoner. 

I  never  knew  or  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  in  any  way  shooting,  or  beating  with 
a  pistol,  or  kicking  to  death,  any  prisoner  while  I  was  there.  I  never  knew  of 
his  killing  them  in  any  way  or  brutally  treating  them.  If  he  had  used  any 
extraordinary  violence  it  strikes  me  I  would  have  heard  of  it,  but  I  never  did. 
Captain  Wirz  rode  a  gray  mare — a  white  animal,  almost  perfectly  white.  I 
never  saw  him  on  any  other  than  a  white  horse. 

I  never  saw  a  chain-gang  or  stocks  in  my  life.  I  did  see  a  dozen  men  or  so 
chained  together,  but  that  did  not  constitute  the  chain-gang  which  I  have  heard 
spoken  of.  I  saw  them  chained  togther;  I  do  not  know  what  it  was  for.  I 
presume  that  was  not  the  chain-gang  mentioned  here.  I  only  know  the  chain- 
gang  by  reputation. 

I  understood  the  chain-gang — I  do  not  know  positively  about  it. — to  be  a 
number  of  men  linked  together  in  such  a  way  as  to  allow  them  to  move  around. 
Those  men  that  I  saw  were  chained  together  in  the  shape  of  a  square,  so  they 
could  not  move.  I  never  saw  those  in  the  chain-gang.  It  was  not  done  by  my 
order;  I  don't  know  by  whose  order  it  was  done.  I  never  exercised  the  right 
to  punish  prisoners  of  war;  I  never  had  it  under  my  letter  of  instructions.  I 
do  not  know  who  had  the  right  to  punish  them.  Captain  Wirz  was  commander 
of  the  prison;  he  exercised  the  right,  and  I  presume  he  had  it.  Captain  Wirz's 
orders  came  through  me,  but  he  never  received  any  order  to  punish  prisoners 
through  me.  If  he  punished  them  it  was  at  his  own  instance,  and  I  presume 
he  was  responsible. 

TESTIMONY  OF  MAJOR  G.  L.  PROCTOR. 

Major  Geo.  L.  Proctor,  C.  S.  A.,  commissary  at  Andersonville,  tes 
tified  r1 

While  I  was  at  Andersonville  I  never  knew  or  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  shooting 
or  in  any  way  killing  a  man. 

I  never  knew  or  heard  of  a  Confederate  soldier  getting  a  furlough  for  shooting 
a  Union  prisoner;  I  knew  nothing  outside  of  my  department,  and  I  heard  nothing 
of  it. 

TESTIMONY   OF   CAPTAIN   WRIGHT. 

Captain  Wright,  C.  S.  A.,  recalled  for  defense,  testified:2 
I  have  seen  the  dogs  there.  I  never  saw  Captain  Wirz  go  with  them.  I 
do  not  know  whether  dogs  were  used  there  before  Captain  Wirz  came;  I  remem 
ber  of  their  bringing  prisoners  in  who  had  been  captured  with  dogs;  I  don't 
know  whether  it  was  before  Captain  Wirz  came  there.  It  was  before  Turner's 
dogs  were  employed.  I  think  it  was  before  any  dogs  at  all  were  employed  at 
the  post.  This  man  Harris  brought  them  in — no  one  connected  with  the  post.  I 
knew  two  planters  around  Andersonville  that  had  hounds.  I  know  that  this  man 
Harris  brought  in  prisoners.  He  is  the  only  farmer  that  had  hounds,  that  I 
know  of,  that  did  so.  Confederate  soldiers  were  hunted  by  Turner's  hounds.  I 

1  Record,  p.  669. 

a  Record,  p.  480  et  seq. 


312  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE, 

do  not  know  whether  he  ever  captured  them  or  not.  I  know  that  he  started  after 
them.  Turner  applied  to  me  to  be  paid  for  his  hound  running.  I  refused  to 
pay  him.  He  then  went  to  the  commander  of  the  post — Colonel  Forno,  I  think, 
was  in  command  then.  He  decided  that  Turner  was  not  entitled  to  it,  being  a 
detailed  man;  that  he  was  only  entitled  to  his  detailed  pay  of  twenty-five  cents 
per  day  extra. 

Q.  What  do  you  know  about  complaints  being  made  on  the  part  of  Captain 
Wirz  on  account  of  the  bad  condition  of  affairs  there? 

I  cannot  now  think  of  any  specific  act  on  the  part  of  Captain  Wirz  to  ameliorate 
the  condition  of  the  prison.  I  know  that  I  carried  different  things  into  the 
stockade  to  the  prisoners — vegetables  and  other  things.  Captain  Wirz  never  pre 
vented  or  tried  to  prevent  me  from  doing  so.  I  always  showed  him  what  I  had 
to  carry^jn,  and— he  would  give  me  a  pass  to  take  it  in. 

I  never  knew  or  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  promising  a  guard  a  furlough  for  shoot 
ing  Union  soldiers.  I  never  knew  of  any  one  getting  a  furlough  for  that  cause. 
Captain  Wirz  gave  transportation  in  the  name  of  General  Winder;  he  used  to 
sign  the  orders  for  transportation  there. 

Q.     Can  you  explain  that? 

A.  We  had  an  order  from  Eichmond  forbidding  any  one  to  issue  transporta 
tion  except  on  the  orders  of  chiefs  of  bureaus  and  commanders  of  armies  and 
departments.  That  locked  up  our  post  so  that  we  could  not  issue  any  trans 
portation  at  all  until  General  Winder  got  an  order  allowing  him  to  issue  trans 
portation.  After  he  left  there  Captain  Wirz  signed  orders  for  transportation,  as 
assistant  adjutant-general. 

I  know  that  Captain  Wirz  was  crippled  in  his  right  arm.  I  do  not  think  he 
could  use  it.  It  was  injured  in  some  way.  I  do  not  know  whether  it  was 
broken  or  not.  I  know  that  his  right  arm  was  injured.  I  have  never  seen  him 
dressing  it. 

I  was  quartermaster  to  my  regiment  part  of  the  time,  and  then  quartermas 
ter  for  all  the  troops  there.  I  had  nothing  at  all  to  do  with  the  stockade  or 
with  Captain  Wirz.  I  have  seen  him  passing  every  day  is  the  reason  I  know  so 
much  about  it.  I  was  not  a  familiar  associate  with  Captain  Wirz.  I  used  to  see 
a  good  deal  of  him  after  I  was  made  quartermaster  of  the  post.  He  would  come 
around  to  the  quartermaster's  office;  his  office  was  not  more  than  thirty  steps 
from  mine.  He  went  there  for  anything  he  wanted.  I  did  not  know  anything 
about  his  business.  I  know  nothing  more  than  what  I  heard  about  the  rigors 
he  imposed  on  the  prisoners  in  the  stockade.  Whenever  I  would  go  to  the 
stockade  I  would  most  commonly  see  him.  I  have  seen  him  go  into  the  stockade 
a  good  many  times;  I  used  to  go  into  the  stockade  frequently  myself.  I  had 
friends  there  to  whom  I  carried  vegetables.  I  do  not  pretend  to  know  what 
Captain  Wirz  did  while  he  was  there.  I  know  nothing  of  my  personal  knowledge 
as  to  what  he  did  to  the  prisoners  inside  the  stockade. 

Q.  Do  you  know  of  your  personal  knowledge  what  he  did  to  prisoners  outside 
the  stockade? 

A.  Well,  I  know  that  he  has  had  them  put  in  the  stocks,  and  in  the  chain- 
gang  and  such  things  as  that;  that  is  about  all  I  know. 


VIOLATION  OF  EULES  OF  WAE.  313 

I  know  that  Captain  Wirz  had  prisoners  chased  by  dogs.  I  didn't  say  that 
no  dogs  were  used  there  until  Turner's  were  brought  there.  I  say  that  dogs 
were  used  there  without  being  hired;  that  there  were  prisoners  brought  in  that 
had  been  captured  by  dogs. 

Q.  Do  you  not  know  that  no  dogs  were  used  there  till  Captain  Wirz  came 
from  Kichmond? 

A.  I  do  not  know  about  that,  whether  it  was  before  or  after.  I  could  not 
say  positively,  because  I  do  not  remember,  but  I  remember  the  first  prisoners 
that  were  caught  by  dogs.  I  do  not  remember  the  date ;  I  do  not  know  whether 
Captain  Wirz  was  there  or  not.  I  went  there  in  February;  I  cannot  say  how 
long  it  was  after  I  went  there;  it  appears  to  me  Captain  Wirz  was  there.  I  know 
that  Harris  was  employed  there  for  that  purpose;  I  will  not  say  positively,  but  I 
think  it  was  after  he  brought  prisoners  in.  He  brought  the  first.  I  do  not  know 
that  he  was  employed  by  Captain  Wirz.  I  saw  him  about  Captain  Wirz's  head 
quarters  every  time  he  came  with  prisoners.  It  was  generally  known  that  he  was 
in  that  business  of  chasing  prisoners  with  dogs.  Turner,  the  hound  runner,  applied 
to  me  for  pay.  He  told  me  Captain  Wirz  had  promised  him  $30  apiece  for  the 
captured  prisoners,  and  that  he  was  needing  the  money.  I  told  him  I  did  not 
believe  he  was  entitled  to  it  and  would  not  pay  him  without  a  special  order  from 
the  quartermaster  general.  It  was  a  technical  question  raised  by  me,  he  being  a 
detailed  soldier.  I  never  paid  him  at  all.  I  do  not  know  whether  he  was  paid 
or  not.  He  afterwards  appealed  to  the  commandant;  he  applied  to  Colonel  Forno, 
and  he  came  and  reported  to  me  that  he  was  entitled  to  twenty-five  cents  a  day. 
Colonel  Forno  talked  about  it  afterward.  At  the  time  Turner  applied  to  me  he 
said  Captain  Wirz  had  promised  him  $30  a  head.  He  did  not  tell  me  when  Captain 
Wirz  employed  him. 

I  do  not  pretend  to  know  all  that  went  on  at  headquarters  with  regard  to  grant 
ing  furloughs.  I  was  not  a  staff  officer  at  headquarters.  I  had  nothing  to  do 
with  furloughs — who  received  them,  and  what  cause  was  assigned  for  them.  I 
know  nothing  about  it  only  from  what  I  heard.  I  heard  of  a  furlough  being 
granted  to  a  Confederate  soldier  for  shooting  a  Union  prisoner;  I  never  knew  it. 
I  heard  such  rumors  in  camp  among  our  own  soldiers. 

Q.  You  say  he  was  crippled  in  his  right  arm.  Do  you  not  know  that  he  uses 
his  right  hand  to  write  with,  to  use  the  pen? 

A.  Yes,  I  think  he  uses  the  pen  with  his  right  hand.  I  do  not  think  he  could 
use  his  right  arm  well.  I  have  heard  him  complain  of  it.  I  never  noticed  him 
riding  with  the  reins  in  his  right  hand.  I  never  noticed  which  hand  he  used. 
I  have  seen  him  riding  when  he  carried  a  pistol  and  held  the  reins  at  the  same 
time.  I  do  not  know  which  hand  he  used  to  hold  the  reins  or  pistol  with.  I 
don't  think  he  had  the  reins  and  pistol  in  the  same  hand;  I  never  noticed  his 
being  incapacitated  entirely  to  use  his  right  hand.  I  do  not  know  how  much  he 
used  his  right  hand.  I  never  noticed  particularly  about  his  using  it.  His  being 
crippled  in  the  right  hand  never  struck  me  as  being  remarkable  from  his  use  of  it. 
I  never  saw  him  have  occasion  to  use  it  except  in  writing,  and  it  is  my  recollection 
that  he  then  used  his  right  hand. 

Q.     You  say  you  never  saw  but  one  chain-gang? 

A.  Well,  it  might  not  have  been  the  same  chain-gang  that  I  saw.  The  time 
I  saw  the  prisoners  in  the  chain-gang  might  have  been  before  General  Winder  came 


314  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONYILLE. 

there.     I  did  not  say  whether  it  was  or  was  not;  I  cannot  say  positively  when  it 
was.    I  do  not  remember  the  date,  for  I  never  charged  my  mind  with  it. 

I  never  heard  of  prisoners  of  war  escaping  over  or  breaking  through  the  stock 
ade;  all  I  know  is  that  where  the  stockade  crossed  the  branch  the  ground  was 
boggy  and  marshy,  and  the  stockade  was  not  fixed  tightly  in  the  ground.  I  know 
it  was  washed  down,  and  I  thought  that  was  a  weak  spot. 

The  foregoing  comprises  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses  for  the  de 
fense,  except  those  who  were  prisoners. 

Vincenzo  Bardo  was  called  for  the  defense,  not  to  disprove  the  fact 
that  he  was  whipped  and  put  in  the  stocks  for  attempting  to  escape, 
but  to  shield  Wirz  from  the  responsibility  for  the  outrage.  His  testi 
mony  has  been  given  in  a  previous  chapter. 

TESTIMONY  OF  EDWARD  W.  BOATE. 

Edward  Wellington  Boate  was  called  for  the  defense  to  show  among 
other  things  that  Captain  Wirz  endeavored  to  relieve  the  situation  by 
calling  upon  the  prisoners  to  assist,  and  was  refused  on  grounds  which 
seem  improbable  on  their  face  and  contrary  to  the  facts  elsewhere  es 
tablished.  The  condition  of  the  prisoners,  their  short  rations  and  suf 
ferings  generally,  he  describes  much  the  same  as  other  witnesses. 

He  testified:1 

During  the  time  I  remained  in  the  stockade,  I  never  knew  or  heard  of  Captain 
Wirz  committing  any  assault  on  any  prisoner  there.  I  never  heard  of  such  a 
thing  as  Captain  Wirz  shooting,  beating,  or  in  any  way  injuring  a  man  so  that  he 
died,  until  this  trial. 

Q.     What  do  you  know  about  an  outbreak  there? 

A.  I  did  not  know  anything  about  an  outbreak;  but  I  heard  that  there  was  to 
be  such  a  thing.  I  know  that  Captain  Wirz  sent  for  the  sergeants  and  addressed 
them.  [To  the  Court:]  It  was  at  his  headquarters.  They  were  brought  out.  He 
said  to  them:  "Men,  I  am  aware  that  there  is  an  outbreak  on  foot,  and  I  desire  to 
warn  you.  I  do  not  wish  to  take  any  advantage  of  your  position,  but  if  you  attempt 
it,  I  will  be  obliged  to  open  the  artillery  here  upon  you.  I  advise  you,  therefore, 
as  sensible  men,  not  to  attempt  anything  of  the  kind."  On  that  occasion  one  of 
the  soldiers  said:  "Captain  Wirz,  will  you  help  us  to  get  exchanged  out  of  this 
place?  Will  you  forward  a  petition  for  us?"  He  replied,  "certainly,"  and  said  in 
addition  to  that,  "I  suppose  you  are  short  of  stationery  down  in  the  stockade; 
come  in  and  help  yourselves  to  as  much  paper  and  stationery  as  you  require."  On 
that  occasion  Private  Higginson,  who  has  since  been  made  a  major,  came  in  and 
took  away  a  quantity  of  paper  from  Captain  Wirz's  office. 

This  witness  also  testified  to  the  fact  that  a  petition  to  the  Federal 
government  was  prepared  by  the  prisoners  with  the  consent  of  Wirz 
for  their  exchange,  and  that  certain  prisoners  were  chosen  to  take  it 

1  Record,  p.  689. 


VIOLATION  OF  KULES  OF  WAR.  315 

to  Washington.    The  witness  was  not  permitted  to  testify  to  what  he 
claimed  was  a  copy  of  the  petition  printed  in  a  Northern  newspaper.1 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  The  only  practical  point  in  the  evidence  offered  by  the 
defense  is  that  Captain  Wirz  and  General  Winder  made  efforts  leading  to  the 
coming  of  certain  persons  here  to  Washington.  What  these  persons  did  has  nothing 
whatever  to  do  with  this  case.  When  it  has  been  shown  that  General  Winder  or 
Captain  Wirz  expressed  a  wish  or  intention  on  that  subject,  that  is  all  there  is  in 
the  matter.  Whether  our  government  acted  rightly  or  wrongly  on  the  subject  can 
be  no  defense  with  them.  If  the  evidence  which  is  offered  be  allowed  to  come  in, 
the  court  may  be  required  to  sit  some  time  longer  to  determine  whether  the  gov 
ernment  of  the  United  States  is  to  blame  in  the  matter.  Mr.  Tracy  has  been  here 
as  a  witness  for  the  government,  and  he  would  have  been  retained  for  the  defense 
if  he  had  been  asked,  or  would  have  been  subpoenaed  subsequently  if  such  a  request 
had  been  made.  But  now,  here  at  the  close  of  the  trial,  we  are  called  upon  to 
meet  points  which  seem  purposely  to  have  been  reserved  for  this  occasion. 

[Colonel  Stibbs  inquired  of  Mr.  Baker  what  was  the  object  in  offering  the  pro 
posed  evidence.] 

MR.  BAKER.  To  show  that,  the  committee  came  forward  and  that  they  did  their 
duty;  that  they  were  a  committee  for  a  legitimate  purpose,  and  that  they  tried 
to  carry  out  that  purpose.  I  propose  afterward  to  show  that  Colonel  Ould  tried 
to  do  the  same  thing  in  another  way. 

GENERAL  THOMAS.  It  is  perfectly  well  known  that  our  government  would  not 
consent  to  the  exchange  of  prisoners  so  long  as  the  rebel  government  refused  to 
recognize  the  United  States  colored  troops  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  murdered 
them.  Our  government  was  certainly  right  in  the  position  which  it  took,  and 
would  not  have  been  justified  in  taking  any  other. 

MR.  BAKER.  I  know  that  there  is  a  great  question  in  reference  to  that,  but  I 
want  to  avoid  all  that. 

Q.  Did  you  know  anything  about  letters  from  our  prisoners  offering  to  take 
the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  Southern  Confederacy? 

A.  Captain  Wirz  showed  me  several  letters.  Sometimes  there  were  as  many 
as  twenty  from  our  men  in  the  stockade — at  least,  I  believe  so;  I  did  not  see 
them  written — offering  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance.  He  told  me,  "Destroy 
these  letters.  I  don't  like  a  deserter,  North  or  South." 

TESTIMONY  OF  W.  W.  CRANDALL. 

W.  W.  Crandall  was  recalled  for  the  defense  to  show  that  Lieutenant 
Davis  was  in  command  of  the  prison  during  most  of  August,  1864. 
This  was  to  disprove  some  of  the  acts  of  cruelty  charged  to  Wirz  as 
having  been  committed  by  him  during  that  month. 

He  testified  :2 

Lieutenant  Davis  was  at  Andersonville  during  most  of  the  month  of  August — 
from  among  the  first  days  of  August;  I  cannot  tell  accurately  when  his  com- 

1  Record,  p.  695. 

2  Record,  p.  413. 


316  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

mand  commenced,  but,  from  among  the  first  days  of  August  until  about  the 
27th,  28th,  or  29th  of  that  month,  he  was  reported  to  be  in  command,  and  gave 
orders  to  us,  and  we  looked  upon  him  as  our  commander  the  same  as  we  had 
previously  looked  upon  Captain  Wirz;  we  had  nothing  to  do  with  Captain  Wirz 
during  that  time. 

TESTIMONY  OP  B.  F.  DILLEY. 

Benjamin  F.  Dilley,  Company  F,  54th  Pennsylvania  Volunteers, 
testified  :l 

I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing  as  a  prisoner  being  shot  in  the  stockade;  there 
was  an  alarm  there  one  night.  I  never  knew  or  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  giving 
a  furlough  to  Confederate  soldiers  for  shooting  Union  prisoners;  I  never  heard 
of  anything  of  that  kind.  I  never  heard  it  mentioned  at  Andersonville.  While 
I  was  there  my  desk  was  within  two  feet  of  his — about  the  same  as  these  two 
desks  here — all  the  time. 

Q.  Would  it  have  been  possible  for  any  furlough  of  that  kind  to  be  given 
without  your  knowing  it? 

A.  Oh,  it  could  be  done,  of  course.  I  do  not  think  it  could  be  done  without 
our  knowing  it.  I  do  not  think  Captain  Wirz  had  authority  to  give  a  30  days' 
furlough.  He  gave  furloughs  for  eight  days,  when  the  colonel  commanding  the 
post  was  absent.  It  was  about  harvest  time,  and  the  men  wanted  to  go  home 
and  attend  to  their  grain  when  these  furloughs  were  given.  There  was  not  any 
other  time  that  I  know  of  that  furloughs  were  given  by  Captain  Wirz.  I  never 
heard  tell  of  such  a  thing  as  a  furlough  being  given  for  shooting  a  Union  pris 
oner. 

The  prisoner  called  "Frenchy,"  who  was  brought  back  by  dogs,  was  not 
seriously  hurt;  he  was  merely  scratched;  he  laughed  over  it  himself.  I  think 
he  said  he  gave  Wirz  a  good  tramp  after  him.  One  of  our  men  attended  to  him. 
He  was  not  what  I  would  call  seriously  wounded,  and  he  did  not  die. 

In  the  light  of  so  much  testimony  from  the  lips  of  both  rebel  wit 
nesses  and  others  of  the  sjhooting  of  prisoners  by  the  guards,  it  seems 
remarkable  that  this  witness  never  heard  of  it.  The  other  statement 
of  the  witness  is  equally  incredible. 

TESTIMONY  OF  AUGUST  GLEICH. 

August  Gleich,  for  the  defense,  testified  :2 

I  was  in  the  Union  army  for  three  years  and  a  half;  I  belonged  to  the  8th 
Pennsylvania  Cavalry;  I  was  taken  prisoner  October  12,  1863,  at  Sulphur  Springs, 
Virginia;  I  was  then  carried  to  Bichmond;  I  remained  in  Eichmond  till  the  4th 
of  March,  1864,  and  then  I  went  to  Andersonville;  I  arrived  at  Andersouville 
March  10,  1864;  I  remained  there  till  November  16,  1864. 

When  I  arrived  at  Andersonville  I  was  put  in  the  stockade;  I  was  not  in 
the  stockade  all  the  time;  I  was  paroled  the  8th  of  April.  I  wrote  a  note  to 
Captain  Wirz  asking  him  if  he  would  not  take  me  out  of  the  stockade;  I  told 


1  Record,  p.  673. 

2  Record,  p.  585  et  seq. 


VIEWS   IN   ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY.     LOWER  PICTURE  WAS  TAKEN   BEFORE 
IMPROVEMENTS  WERE  COMMENCED. 


318  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

him  I  would  be  willing  to  chop  wood;  at  the  same  time  he  had  sent  in  for  hands 
to  come  out  and  cut  wood  for  the  men  inside  to  cook  their  victuals  with,  so  I 
told  him  that  I  would  be  willing  to  go  out  and  cut  wood;  the  next  day  he  sent 
for  me  and  I  went  out  into  his  office;  he  looked  at  me  and  told  me  that  I  was 
too  weak  yet  to  cut  wood,  and  he  asked  me  if  I  could  not  do  anything  else;  I 
told  him  that  I  could  make  myself  useful  among  horses,  so  he  told  me  to  go 
to  the  stable,  an  officers'  stable;  I  went  there  and  I  remained  there  till  the  time 
I  left ;  there  were  horses  at  the  stable  belonging  to  officers,  and  Captain  Wirz's 
mare  was  there;  I  took  care  of  her;  there  were  about  eighteen  horses  in  that 
stable;  some  of  the  horses  were  General  Winder's,  some  belonged  to  Captain 
Piggott,  to  Captain  White  and  Lieutenant  Davis,  and  Captain  Wirz's  mare  was 
there  and  two  or  three  government  horses.  Captain  Wirz  had  a  gray  mare;  he 
never  had  any  other. 

Captain  Wirz  was  sick  once  while  I  was  at  Andersonville ;  I  think  it  was  in  the 
month  of  August ;  Captain  Wirz's  horse  stopped  there  in  the  stable  while  he 
was  sick;  nobody  rode  her  then  except  Sergeant  Smith;  he  sometimes  rode  her. 
Captain  Wirz  was  sick  about  a  month  at  that  time;  Lieutenant  Davis  was  in 
command  while  Captain  Wirz  was  sick.i 

I  drew  clothing  twice  while  I  was  at  Andersonville;  once  in  August  and  the 
next  time  in  November.  The  first  time  I  drew  government  clothing;  the  second 
time  Sanitary  Commission  clothing.  The  first  time  I  got  pants,  a  blouse,  shoes, 
and  a  cap;  the  second  time  I  got  a  blanket,  pants,  drawers,  and  shirt,  no  shoes; 
there  were  not  many  there,  only  about  40  or  50  pairs.  There  was  an  order 
given  in  relation  to  the  Union  soldiers  selling  things.  Captain  Wirz  told  us 
that  if  we  would  sell  anything  to  the  guard  he  would  put  us  in  the  stocks,  and 
if  he  saw  the  guard  or  any  citizen  having  anything  from  us  he  would  punish  him 
for  it. 

The  letter  that  I  wrote  to  Captain  Wirz  was  written  in  English;  I  am  sure 
it  was  not  written  in  German.  I  told  Captain  Wirz  in  the  letter  that  I  was  a 
prisoner  and  was  sick  and  very  bad  off;  had  the  scurvy  badly;  that  I  would  be 
willing  to  go  out  and  chop  wood.  He  had  called  for  men  to  do  that.  I  wanted 
to  go  out;  I  was  glad  to  get  out;  I  was  very  bad  off.  I  had  the  scurvy.  I 
was  very  poor  then;  I  was  sick.  I  did  not  have  enough  to  eat.  I  wanted  to 
go  out  of  the  stockade  because  I  did  not  have  enough  to  eat.  I  understood 
that  if  I  were  outside  I  would  get  double  rations,  that  was  another  reason  why  I 
went  out. 

Q.  Do  you  remember  all  about  the  dates  of  occurrences  there,  the  particular 
days  of  the  month,  &c.?  Did  you  charge  your  memory  with  anything  of  that 
kind? 

A.     No,  sir;  I  never  did. 

Q.  Then  how  do  you  happen  to  remember  so  particularly  about  the  time  when 
Captain  Wirz  was  sick? 

A.  I  know  it  was  the  month  of  August.  1  know  it  was  the  month  of  August 
because  we  drew  clothing  then,  and  I  put  that  down  in  my  brain;  I  had  nothing 
for  a  whole  year.  I  do  not  know  the  date  exactly.  I  am  certain  it  was  in 

1  We  know  from  reports  made  by  him  and  by  Colonel  Chandler  that  this  witness  was  mis 
taken. 


VIOLATION  OF  KULES  OF  WAR.  319 

August.  I  am  certain  Captain  Wirz  was  not  sick  in  July.  I  don't  know 
whether  he  was  sick  in  September  or  not;  I  know  he  was  riding  around  all  the 
time  in  the  month  of  July. 

At  the  time  I  drew  clothing  I  was  not  naked,  but  I  had  not  much.  I  was 
no  better  off  than  those  inside  the  stockade.  When  I  came  out  of  the  stockade 
I  had  a  pair  of  drawers  and  a  shirt,  that  was  all.  I  continued  to  wear  those 
about  a  week,  and  then  I  got  a  pair  of  pants  which  were  given  to  me  by  Cap 
tain  Eeed,  the  provost  marshal.  About  three  or  four  weeks  afterwards  I  drew 
a  suit  of  clothing.  Lieutenant  Davis  was  in  command  then.  In  November  I 
drew  another  suit.  While  I  was  outside  I  had  two  full  suits  of  clothing  served 
out  to  me  besides  a  pair  of  pants  which  Captain  Keed  gave  to  me.  Others,  who 
were  outside,  got  them.  I  had  a  double  ration  while  I  was  outside. 

I  never  heard  of  a  man  being  injured  by  Captain  Wirz;  I  heard  it  spoken  of 
while  I  was  at  Andersonville.  All  I  can  tell  is  that  he  would  curse  a  man  for 
nothing  at  all  hardly;  that  is  about  all  he  would  do.  At  the  time  of  roll-call 
he  might  pull  a  fellow  around  if  he  would  not  stay  in  his  place;  I  have  seen 
him  do  that.  He  would  pull  them  around  roughly.  I  never  saw  him  draw  his 
pistol  on  a  man;  I  have  seen  him  knocking  them  around  in  the  line.  I  never 
heard  any  of  my  comrades  or  any  of  the  prisoners  say  that  Captain  Wirz  had 
injured  them  by  beating  them  or  anything  of  that  kind;  I  never  heard  a  word 
said  about  that. 

TESTIMONY  OF  FREDERICK  GUSCETTI. 

Frederick  Guscetti,  private  in  47th  New  York  Kegiment,  was  called 
for  the  defense  to  show  the  disposition  of  Wirz  towards  the  prisoners. 
He  was  also  called  to  explain  the  death  of  a  prisoner,  called  "Chick- 
amauga,"  and  to  dispute  witnesses  whose  testimony,  hereafter  to  be 
given,  fixed  the  responsibility  directly  upon  Wirz. 

He  testified  t1 

I  am  an  Italian;  I  speak  six  or  seven  languages;  I  have  been  in  the  military 
service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  47th  New  York  Eegiment;  I  was  taken  as  a 
prisoner  to  Andersonville.  I  was  then  taken  to  Tallahassee,  Florida;  I  arrived 
at  Andersonville,  March  28,  1864. 

I  was  in  the  stockade  from  March  29  till  August  28,  1864;  I  was  then  paroled; 
I  was  taken  out  by  a  sergeant  and  brought  up  to  the  headquarters  of  Captain 
Wirz;  I  was  at  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters  from  the  28th  of  August,  when  I 
was  taken  out,  till  the  15th  or  16th  of  November;  I  first  saw  Captain  Wirz  five 
or  six  days  after  I  was  taken  to  Andersonville;  there  was  from  7,000  to  9,000- 
prisoners  there  then,  perhaps  more;  when  I  was  paroled  I  was  sick,  and  one  of 
the  doctors  asked  Captain  Wirz  to  take  me  out;  the  captain  told  him  he  should 
not  do  so,  but  the  next  day  he  sent  orders  to  take  me  out;  I  was  brought  to  hi» 
headquarters;  he  told  me  to  stay  there  and  said  to  me  "When  they  want  you, 
you  will  go  to  the  hospital  and  do  what  they  ask  you."  The  first  time  a  man 

1  Record,  p.  513  et  seq. 


320  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

was  shot  by  the  sentry  outside,  he  was  taken  out;  the  sentry  shot  him  as  he 
was  coming  to  the  river;  he  shot  him  with  two  bullets,  one  through  the  body  and 
one  through  the  leg;*  I  was  inside  at  that  time;  Captain  Wirz  came  in  in  the 
morning  and  I  told  him  that  three  or  four  of  us  would  like  to  go  arid  see  that 
man;  he  said  that  he  would  allow  nobody  to  go;  after  a  little  while,  when  he 
was  going  out  of  the  gate,  I  told  him  again;  he  said  "Well,  if  they  go  under 
guard  they  can  go."  Dr.  White  came  and  I  told  him  that  Captain  Wirz  had  said 
we  might  go;  I  and  two  other  men  went  to  see  the  man  in  the  hospital;  after 
ward  when  I  was  in  the  hospital  I  used  to  go  with  the  guard  to  bring  men  from 
the  stockade  to  see  men  in  the  hospital;  this  was  done  four  times,  I  think.  One 
morning  a  man  came  up  and  told  Captain  Wirz  that  he  was  a  preacher,  and 
Captain  Wirz  told  me  to  go  with  him  into  camp;  we  went  in.  The  man  stopped 
to  talk  with  several  of  the  prisoners;  the  men  were  asking  him  when  they  would 
be  exchanged. 

The  man  came  in  and  bought  watches;  when  he  came  out  I  told  Captain  Wirz 
that  that  man  whom  he  had  sent  me  in  with  did  nothing  but  buy  watches;  Captain 
Wirz  sent  him  with  Sergeant  Smith  down  to  General  Winder;  I  don't  know  what 
occurred  afterward. 

Chickamauga  was  a  Canadian  who  used  to  be  in  a  tent  where  I  was.  Several 
of  us  were  digging  a  tunnel  in  order  to  get  out.  Some  five  days  after  a  rebel 
officer  came  in  and  came  to  where  the  hole  was  and  said  "Here  is  a  tunnel"; 
his  men  came  in  and  broke  it  up.  We  suspected  that  somebody  had  reported 
the  matter,  but  we  did  not  know  for  sure.  About  two  days  and  two  nights 
afterwards  we  began  another  tunnel.  We  were  about  five  days  on  it  when  one 
morning  an  officer  came  in  and  broke  up  the  hole.  A  third  time  we  made  a 
hole.  We  then  suspected  that  somebody  was  reporting  our  holes.  We  looked 
around  and  in  the  morning  we  saw  Chickamauga  pass  the  dead-line  and  go 
where  the  letter-box  was.  We  did  not  know  what  he  was  going  to  do.  About 
ten  minutes  afterwards  a  lieutenant  with  a  red  sash,  the  officer  of  the  day,  came 
in  with  a  guard  and  went  right  to  the  place  where  we  had  put  the  sand.  We 
had  worked  the  matter  so  well  that  we  never  thought  anybody  could  suspect  it, 
but  he  went  right  up  to  it  and  said,  "Here  is  a  tunnel."  A  big  Canadian  who 
was  there  said  to  him,  "Lieutenant,  who  told  you  that  we  made  a  hole  there?"  The 
lieutenant  said,  "Well,  that  cripple  told  me."  The  cripple  was  then  between 
the  dead-line  and  the  gate;  we  began  to  curse  him.  There  were  about  fifty 
or  sixty  men  where  we  were,  Canadians,  Frenchmen,  and  others,  all  mixed  to 
gether.  There  was  a  low  shanty  there,  and  some  of  the  men  said  they  were 
going  to  hang  Chickamauga  up  there.  He  was  afraid  to  come  inside  of  the 
dead-line  again,  into  the  camp.  He  asked  the  officer  to  take  him  out;  the 
officer  said  that  he  had  not  the  power  to  do  it;  at  his  instance  Captain  Wirz 
came  down  inside  the  south  gate  on  his  white  mare,  and  told  him  to  go  inside, 
that  he  would  not  take  him  out.  The  man  said  that  he  would  not  come  in, 
that  the  men  wanted  to  hurt  him.  Captain  Wirz  replied,  "I  have  nothing  to 
do  with  that,  I  cannot  help  that;  go  inside  the  dead-line  or  you  will  be  shot." 


crippled  soldier  known  as  "Chickamauga"  was  shot  by  a  guard,  as  the  evidence 
showed  with  reasonable  certainty,  upon  the  direct  order  of  Wirz.  He  admitted  the  killing  but 
denied  that  he  ordered  it. 


VIOLATION  OF  KULES  OF  WAR.  321 

The  man  would  not  go  in.  Captain  Wirz  took  out  his  pistol  and  said,  "If  you 
do  not  go  inside  the  dead-line  I  will  shoot  you."  The  man  bared  his  breast 
and  said,  "I  do  not  care;  shoot  me  if  you  want  to."  Captain  Wirz  put  the 
pistol  away  and  turned  his  horse  to  go  out;  some  of  our  men  said,  "Bully  for 
you,"  meaning  bully  for  Captain  Wirz.  We  knew  that  the  man  was  a  spy,  and 
as  Captain  Wirz  went  out,  as  he  was  shutting  the  gate,  some  of  our  men  took 
hold  of  this  Canadian,  "Frenehy"  as  he  was  sometimes  called,  and  pulled  him 
inside  the  dead-line.  Almost  everybody  who  was  not  an  American  or  a  German 
was  called  "Frenehy."  This  man  was  now  inside  the'  dead-line,  but  in  a  few 
moments  he  passed  out  again,  past  the  dead-line,  and  sat  down  about  one  yard 
from  the  dead-line — inside  of  the  dead-line.  The  guard  told  him  twice  to  go 
away;  he  said  he  would  not  do  it.  The  guard  then  took  up  his  musket  and 
said  he  would  shoot  him  if  he  would  not  go  in.  He  said  "Go  in,  or  I  will 
shoot  you."  The  man  said  "I  don't  care,"  and  he  opened  his  blouse  again.  The 
guard  shot  him.  The  men  were  all  around  there  at  the  time.  We  told  him  to 
come  inside,  as  we  were  not  fools  enough  to  cross  the  dead-line  to  bring  him  out. 
There  were  a  great  many  men  around  there;  it  was  generally  understood  what 
Chickamauga  had  done  in  the  morning,  that  he  had  acted  as  a  spy,  and  the  men 
cursed  him  of  course.  Captain  Wirz  was  outside  the  gate  when  the  man  was 
shot;  the  gate  was  shut. 

Q.     Did  you  hear  any  orders  given  to  the  sentry? 

A.  When  Captain  Wirz  got  outside  I  do  not  believe  that  anybody  could  hear 
him  say  anything. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.    State  what  you  did  or  did  not  hear. 

WITNESS.     Nobody  could  hear. 

Q.     Why  could  they  not  hear? 

A.  The  stockade  was  about  fifteen  feet  high  and  two  or  three  feet  thick,  and 
the  dead-line  was  about  eight  or  ten  steps  from  the  stockade. 

Q.  Did  the  crowd  around  there  make  any  noise  by  talking  or  hallooing  to  each 
other? 

A.  I  did  not  remark  a  noise.  The  men  always  made  a  noise.  The  men  were 
around  me  and  some  of  them  were  cursing  this  man.  Some  of  them  wanted  to 
bring  him  inside,  but  they  would  not  cross  the  dead-line. 

I  never  saw  any  clothing  or  boxes  in  the  stockade;  boxes  came,  but  not  into 
the  stockade.  They  came  to  the  headquarters  of '  Captain  Wirz.  I  saw  some 
of  the  boxes  brought  into  the  stockade  for  the  prisoners.  I  saw  them  come  in  in 
May;  about  thirty  came  that  I  saw.  They  were  small  boxes,  such  as  are  sent 
by  express;  such  as  Northern  people  sent  to  the  men.  Boxes  were  not  frequently 
coming  in  that  way.  I  saw  about  thirty  in  the  month  of  May  and  three  in  July. 
There  may  have  been  more,  but  I  did  not  see  them.  There  was  a  letter-box, 
and  they  put  a  notice  in  the  letter-box  for  the  men  who  had  boxes.  The  men 
would  then  report  to  the  sergeant  at  the  gate.  I  know  that  they  received  their 
boxes  in  that  way.  When  nobody  came  to  answer  a  letter  which  was  put  into 
the  letter-box  then  the  boxes  were  sent  to  the  hospital.  I  did  not  know  when 
1  was  in  camp  what  they  did  with  them,  but  when  I  was  out  I  saw  that  when 
nobody  applied  for  boxes  they  were  sent  to  the  hospital — the  Federal  prison 
hospital. 


322  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

I  know  that  Captain  Wirz's  right  arm  was  crippled.  When  he  used  to  ride  on 
horseback,  he  could  not  use  his  right  arm  to  get  into  the  saddle.  He  always 
used  his  left  arm,  and  when  he  was  very  badly  sick  I  had  to  give  him  a  chair  to 
mount  on  horseback,  and  I  also  had  to  lift  him  on  his  horse. 

There  were  two  Canadians  who  were  both  called  "Frenchy."  This  man  used 
to  be  near  my  tent.  He  ran  away  four  times  and  was  captured  and  sent  back 
into  camp.  He  passed  without  punishment  three  times,  and  the  fourth  time 
there  was  a  ball  and  chain  put  upon  his  feet.  He  made  his  escape  again;  I  did 
not  see  him  until  he  was  brought  back.  I  heard  Captain  Wirz  order  him  to  be 
placed,  with  twelve  other  paroled  prisoners,  in  a  chain-gang;  when  he  was  brought 
down  to  the  smith,  he  managed  to  run  away.  The  officer,  Lieutenant  Hill,  I  be 
lieve,  did  not  remark  his  escape  until  he  came  to  the  smith,  when  he  found  there 
was  one  man  less;  he  went  to  Captain  Wirz  and  told  him  that  one  man  had  run 
away.  Captain  Wirz  looked  at  the  men  and  said  "Frenchy  has  run  off  again"; 
he  sent  for  Turner  to  find  out  where  Frenchy  was;  the  dogs  found  out  his  track 
and  followed  and  caught  him;  he  was  brought  back  with  Turner's  dogs;  Captain 
Wirz  was  along  with  them;  Captain  Wirz  had  on  a  pair  of  white  pants  which 
were  very  muddy;  the  captain  told  him  he  would  not  send  him  back  to  the  stock 
ade,  but  would  send  him  to  the  guard-tent,  and  he  called  Sergeant  Smith  and  sent 
Frenchy  to  the  guard-tent.  Afterwards  I  came  down  to  him  and  asked  him  about 
running  away;  I  said  "You  cannot  run  away  any  more;  you  have  too  much 
watching."  He  said:  "I  do  not  care;  I  will  try  again."  Frenchy  had  on  a 
pair  of  raggish  pants;  he  did  not  say  whether  he  was  torn  by  the  dogs  or  not; 
I  asked  him  if  he  was  hurt,  and  he  told  me  "That  did  not  hurt  m©";  that 
means  in  French,  in  which  he  expressed  himself,  that  it  did  not  hurt  him  much. 
He  said  that  he  did  not  care  for  Captain  Wirz,  that  the  dog  who  barked  did  not 
bite  much;  that  was  the  expression  he  used.  I  did  not  see  that  he  was  torn  at 
all;  he  was  lying  down  in  the  guard-tent;  he  ran  away  again,  but  I  did  not  see 
him;  I  heard  that  he  ran  away  near  Macon;  I  once  saw  Turner  come  in  with 
his  dogs  and  twelve  Confederate  soldiers.1 

I  witnessed  the  death  of  Chickamauga.  Some  of  the  men  were  saying  that 
this  man  was  a  poor  cripple,  and  they  pitied  him,  and  some  there  who  knew  who 
he  was — a  great  part — cursed  him.  There  was  not  a  great  deal  of  noise.  I  do 
not  know  their  purpose  or  intention,  but  I  know  they  got  him  out  of  the  dead 
line  and  back  into  the  camp.  That  was  before  Captain  Wirz  left  the  camp. 
The  guard  snapped  his  piece  once  before  he  fired.  The  guard  pulled  up  his  piece 
and  cocked  it  again;  he  looked  out,  pointed  it  at  Chickamauga,  and  shot  him 
through  the  head.  I  next  saw  Captain  Wirz  about  eight  or  ten  days  afterwards. 
I  did  not  see  him  again  on  that  occasion.  After  Chickamauga  was  shot,  I  fol 
lowed  on,  first  to  about  the  middle  of  the  camp,  to  see  where  he  went,  and  then 
I  got  back  to  my  tent.  I  was  badly  lamed  at  that  time.  After  the  shooting, 
I  saw  a  man  with  the  sentry  at  the  sentry-box  from  my  tent.  It  was  long 
enough  after  that  for  me  to  make  fifty  steps.  It  took  me  about  five  minutes  to 
go  to  my  tent.  I  looked  back  from  my  tent,  and  saw  some  one  besides  the  sentry 
at  the  sentry-box.  I  do  not  know  who  it  was.  I  cannot  say  whether  Captain 
Wirz  went  to  the  sentry-box  or  not — I  am  not  sure.  I  saw  the  sentry  at  the 

1  This  was  the  testimony  of  the  witness  on  cross-examination. 


VIOLATION  OF  EULES  OF  WAR.  323 

sentry-box.  Captain  Wirz  was  not  beside  him;  the  sentry  was  alone.  In  about 
five  minutes  afterwards  I  looked  up  to  the  sentry-box  and  saw  a  man  there 
besides  the  sentry.  I  looked  up  after  the  sentry  fired.  I  heard  here  in  court 
that  Captain  Wirz  went  up  to  the  sentry-box  immediately  after  the  shot  was  fired. 
I  cannot  say  that  it  is  the  fact.  I  cannot  swear  that  Captain  Wirz  did  not  go  up 
to  the  sentry-box  at  that  time.  I  swear  that  I  do  not  know.  I  swear  that  I 
heard  men  say  so  here  in  the  court,  but  I  don't  know  it  myself. 

Q.  Do  you  swear  that  you  did  not  hear  his  voice  after  he  went  out  of  the 
stockade? 

A.     As  soon  as  the  gate  was  closed  I  could  not  possibly  hear  his  voice. 

Q.  Do  you  say  it  was  not  possible  for  anybody  to  hear  from  inside  the 
stockade? 

A.  I  do  not  know  as  to  other  ears.  I  said  it  was  not  possible  for  me  to 
hear  it. 

Q.     Was  it  possible  for  anybody  else  to  hear  him? 

A.     Believe  it  was  pretty  hard. 

Q.  Do  you  swear  that  he  did  not  give  orders  to  the  sentry  to  fire  at  Chicka- 
mauga? 

A.     I  swear  that  I  did  not  hear  him. 

Q.  Do  you  not  recollect  that  the  sentry  said  that  he  would  not  fire,  and  that  he 
refused  to  fire? 

A.  I  do  not  know,  and  I  cannot  swear  that  the  sentry  did  say  something,  and 
I  could  not  tell  what  he  said. 

Q.     Did  he  hesitate  to  fire?     Did  he  refuse  or  appear  to  regret  to  fire? 

A.  I  did  not  see  anybody  order  him  to  fire.  Before  he  fired,  he  did  look 
down  this  way  and  that,  and  then  he  fired.  I  was  called,  in  the  army,  a  blind 
man.  I  have  big  eyes,  but  a  very  short  development  of  sight.  I  am  not  a 
blind  man,  but  I  am  very  short-sighted.  I  could  not  tell  at  a  distance  of  fifty 
feet  whether  it  was  Captain  Wirz.  I  cannot  see  at  that  distance  whether  a  man 
has  a  beard  or  not,  or  whether  he  is  a  negro  or  a  white.  When  I  wear  short 
sighted  glasses,  I  can  see  pretty  well.  I  had  no  glasses  on  at  that  time.  I  see 
a  man  there — [pointing  to  where  the  prisoner  sat] — I  see  a  man  there  with  a 
black  beard,  but  I  cannot  swear  that  it  is  him.  There  is  a  man  standing  in  the 
light  among  the  audience.  I  know  him  because  he  is  a  friend  of  mine,  but  I 
could  not  recognize  a  person  with  whom  I  was  not  acquainted.  I  would  not  rely 
upon  my  recognizing  a  man,  with  whom  I  was  not  very  familiar,  at  twenty  feet 
distance. 

The  Judge  Advocate,  to  show  the  interest  of  the  witness,  introduced 
the  letter  written  by  him  to  the  New  York  News,  which  appears  on  a 
previous  page. 

TESTIMONY  OF  M.  S.  HARRIS. 

Martin  S.  Harris,  5th  Kegiment,  New  York  Volunteer  Artillery,  was 
a  prisoner  from  July  29th  to  November,  1864,  at  Andersonville.  He 
was  called  for  the  defense  and  testified  :* 

1  Record,  p.  588. 


324  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

I  never  heard,  while  at  Andersonville,  of  any  actual  personal  violence  by 
Captain  Wirz;  I  have  heard  of  his  cursing  a  man.  Captain  Wirz  rode  an  old 
gray  mare.  I  never  knew  him  to  ride  a  sorrel  or  a  roan  horse;  he  was  always 
on  the  gray  mare  when  he  was  mounted  at  all;  sometimes  he  came  in  on  foot. 
Captain  Wirz  never  wore  an  out-and-out  rebel  uniform;  it  was  generally  a 
mixture. 

I  have  suffered  from  excessive  marches  and  exposure.  I  suffered  at  Ander 
sonville.  The  heat  of  the  sun  was  a  great  cause  of  my  suffering;  in  the 
exercise  of  my  duties,  during  the  greater  part  of  the  day,  I  was  continually 
exposed  to  the  intense  heat.  That  was  the  chief  cause.  I  also  suffered  from 
diarrhoea.  I  never  suffered  from  lack  of  water.  The  confinement  was  the  prin 
cipal  cause  of  suffering — confinement  and  exposure  to  the  sun  and  sickness.  I 
arrived  at  New  York  May  16,  directly  from  Annapolis.  I  have  done  nothing 
since  I  left  the  army.  I  have  written  two  letters  to  the  New  York  Daily  News 
with  regard  to  this  trial.  Their  purport  was  a  plain  statement  of  facts.  I  wrote 
those  letters  merely  to  see  justice  done  to  a  man  I  thought  wrongly  accused.  I 
selected  the  New  York  News  because  I  was  acquainted  with  the  editors;  they 
are  personal  friends  of  mine.  The  editors  are  Ben  Wood  and  Mr.  Peloi.  Ben 
Wood  has  not  been  a  personal  friend  of  mine  a  great  while.  My  relations  with 
him  are  not  intimate  at  all.  I  state  that  he  is  a  personal  friend  of  mine  because 
I  am  acquainted  with  him,  and  for  no  other  reason.  I  do  not  know  that  that 
paper  has  been  in  sympathy  with  the  Rebellion  during  this  war.  I  know  that 
the  paper  has  been  called  a  copperhead  sheet. 

Q.  During  the  publication  of  your  letters  in  the  New  York  News,  in  the 
interest  of  this  accused,  how  many  times  did  you  see  Ben  Wood? 

A.  Twice,  I  think;  not  more  than  that.  I  talked  with  him,  on  those  occasions, 
but  a  few  moments  about  this  case;  I  did  not  talk  about  anything  else;  I  met 
Ben  Wood  in  his  office;  he  did  not  send  for  me;  I  went  there  to  make  a  cor 
rection  in  the  publication  of  my  article;  it  was  on  that  business  purely  that  I 
went  there.  I  published  two  articles  in  the  Daily  News — two  relative  to  the 
Andersonville  affair.  I  do  not  know  how  I  came  to  be  subpoenaed  in  this  case. 
I  received  a  subpoena;  how  it  came  about  is  more  than  I  can  tell  you.  I  did  not 
write  a  letter  to  the  counsel  in  this  case,  nor  to  anybody  else;  I  signed  my  initials, 
M.  S.  EL,  to  the  communication  I  wrote  to  the  News.  I  wrote  for  the  Brooklyn 
Eagle  an  article  relative  to  the  Andersonville  business;  I  am  not  aware  that  that 
paper  has  been  more  bitter  than  the  News  against  the  government.  I  have  been 
a  long  time  down  South  and  have  not  read  many  papers  lately.  I  had  been  home 
a  few  weeks  before  I  commenced  writing  letters;  probably  four  or  five;  the  writing 
of  those  letters  was  the  first  literary  labor  I  performed  after  I  got  home;  I  saw 
that  attacks  were  being  made  by  the  press  on  Captain  Wirz,  anticipating  his  trial; 
and  also,  anticipating  his  trial,  I  commenced  his  defense.  I  consider  the  Brooklyn 
Eagle  a  first-rate  paper;  it  is  democratic  in  its  principles.  I  am  not  aware  that 
it  ever  attacked  the  present  government.  I  pretend  to  say  that  at  that  day  I  did 
not  know  it  had  been  in  opposition  to  the  administration.  I  do  not  consider  it  at 
all  remarkable  that  I  selected  the  News  and  the  Brooklyn  Eagle.  I  knew  their 
complexion.  That  is  what  my  impressions  were  concerning  the  papers;  I  knew 
they  were  not  in  hostility  to  the  present  administration.  I  did  not  know  anything 


VIOLATION  OF  EULES  OF  WAR.  325 

about  them  beyond  that;  I  never  heard  them  discussed.  I  have  heard  the  New 
York  News  spoken  of ;  I  never  heard  its  character  for  loyalty  questioned.  I  .am 
not  acquainted  with  the  editor  of  the  Brooklyn  Eagle,  personally;  I  sympathize 
with  the  political  views  of  that  paper,  and  also  with  the  New  York  News  in  its 
present  course;  that  was  one  reason  why  I  selected  those  sheets. 

Q.  I  now  want  to  know  whether  in  the  letters  written  by  you  to  the  New  York 
News  and  Brooklyn  Eagle,  touching  the  trial  of  Henry  Wirz,  you  entered  into  this 
case  beyond  what  you  now  state  was  your  purpose?1 

A.  I  said  nothing  about  the  trial  of  Wirz;  the  trial  had  not  commenced. 

I  said  something  about  the  approaching  trial  in  those  letters.  I  portrayed  the 
sufferings  of  the  prisoners  at  Andersonville  in  those  letters  as  fully  as  I  could. 
The  only  feature  in  my  letter  differing  from  the  statements  of  the  witnesses  for 
the  prosecution  was  with  regard  to  the  responsibility  and  nothing  else;  that  is 
true  of  all  the  letters  I  wrote. 

When  I  arrived  at  Andersonville  I  was  treated  like  all  the  rest ;  I  could  perceive 
no  difference.  When  we  were  brought  up  in  front  of  Captain  Wirz's  head 
quarters  we  were  divided  into  squads  of  ninety  men  each.  The  men  of  my  squad 
wished  me  to  act  as  their  sergeant.  Captain  Wirz  came  to  me  with  a  sheet  of  paper 
and  told  me  to  take  the  names.  That  constituted  me  sergeant  of  the  squad. 
Captain  Wirz  did  not  display  any  violence  of  temper  on  that  occasion.  I  have 
never  seen  Captain  Wirz  display  any  temper  except  inside  the  stockade;  he  dis 
played  it  there  frequently.  Almost  every  week  or  so  he  would  come  in  on  his  gray 
mare,  and  the  men  would  collect  around  him  by  hundreds,  and  would  pester  him 
with  questions  about  exchange.  At  such  times  he  would  go  off  in  a  rage.  I  never 
saw  Captain  Wirz  draw  his  pistol  on  the  prisoners;  I  have  seen  his  pistol  in  his 
belt ;  I  never  saw  him  with  his  pistol  in  his  hand.  I  am  sure  of  that. 

The  dead-line  was  removed  about  the  10th  of  September,  immediately  after  the 
removal  of  the  first  detachment  of  prisoners;  it  was  all  taken  down,  and  all 
restriction  with  regard  to  that  dead-line  removed.  That  I  state  positively.  After 
that  time  there  was  no  shooting  on  the  dead-line  until  the  dead-line  was  recon 
structed.  I  do  not  know  why  it  was  reconstructed  unless  it  was 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.    If  you  do  not  know  why,  you  need  not  state. 

It  was  reconstructed  about  the  middle  of  October.  There  was  no  shooting  to 
my  knowledge  after  the  dead-line  was  put  up.  I  never  saw  any  man  shot;  I  never 
knew  a  man  to  be  shot  after  the  10th  of  September  on  the  dead-line.  So  far  as 
I  know  there  was  no  shooting  on  the  dead-line.  I  have  heard  of  prisoners  being 
shot  on  the  dead-line  previous  to  the  removal,  but  I  never  witnessed  anything  of 
the  kind.  I  never  heard  of  men  being  shot  after  the  10th  of  September.2 

There  were  a  great  many  wells  there,  but  no  persons  were  allowed  to  use 
them  except  those  who  built  them,  or  had  an  interest  in  them.  Those  who  had 
built  the  wells,  or  had  an  interest  in  them  either  by  purchase  or  otherwise,  kept 
the  water  for  their  own  use.  They  would  watch  the  well  and  prevent  all  except 
their  own  company  from  using  it  unless  they  purchased  the  privilege. 

There  were  occasional  instances  where  the  bacon  would  come  in  raw;  the 
rations  were  generally  served  cooked;  I  do  not  think  there  was  need  of  wood; 

1  This  is  the  witness  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Davis  as  "M.  H.  S."  in  his  Belford  articles. 

2  Many  cases  are  proved  to  have  occurred  after  this  date. 


326  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

that  is  the  reason  there  was  sufficient  wood,  because  there  was  no  necessity  for  it, 
the.  rations  being  cooked ;  raw  rations  were  occasionally  issued.  The  bread,  while 
I  was  there,  was  always  baked;  the  beans  were  always  baked;  the  rice  was  always 
baked;  there  was  occasional  issues  of  raw  beef  and  bacon;  I  could  not  say  that 
this  was  true  of  the  whole  camp;  I  attended  to  my  own  duty;  I  do  not  know  any 
thing  extensively  beyond  my  own  detachment;  I  do  not  pretend  to  state,  with  any 
certainty,  observations  beyond  my  own  ninety. 

Q.  Was  it  not  a  fact  that  in  the  crowded  state  of  that  prison  it  was  impossible 
for  a  man  to  know,  with  any  certainty,  what  was  going  on  beyond  his  own 
immediate  vicinity? 

A.  Some  had  greater  facilities  than  others  for  acquiring  general  information, 
those  engaged  in  trade;  I  was  not  of  that  class,  and  did  not  make  this  general 
observation.  I  do  not  say  the  prisoners  had  sufficient  to  eat,  I  say  they  had 
enough  to  sustain  life  provided  they  could  eat  it.  They  could  not  eat  their 
ration  always;  some  prisoners  died  for  want  of  proper  food;  I  saw  a  great  many 
deaths  of  that  kind  there,  for  lack  of  proper  food,  but  not  from  lack  of  quantity; 
from  the  lack  of  proper  food  a  great  many  did  die;  I  have  seen  a  great  many  die 
from  hunger  because  they  could  not  eat  the  food  which  was  provided  for  them; 
raw  rations  were  seldom  issued  to  prisoners  who  were  sick ;  raw  rations  were  issued 
to  the  sick  sometimes,  but  very  seldom.1 

I  saw  vaccine  sores  in  the  arms  of  several  men;  their  arms  were  in  a  horrible 
condition.  I  never  saw  any  vaccinated;  I  knew  they  had  been  vaccinated  because 
of  the  nature  of  the  sores  on  their  arms — they  were  vaccine  sores.  I  did  not  see 
any  besides  those.  I  never  received  any  order  in  regard  to  having  my  men 
vaccinated. 

TESTIMONY  OF  FREDERICK  ROTH. 

Frederick  Roth  testified : 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States — in  the  2d  New  York 
Cavalry.  I  was  captured  on  the  19th  of  October,  1863,  near  New  Baltimore, 
Virginia.  I  was  taken  to  Eichmond,  Belle  Island,  and  from  there  to  Anderson- 
ville.  I  was  at  Belle  Island  five  months.  I  was  taken  to  Andersonville  about  the 
20th  of  March,  1864.  I  left  Andersonville  on  the  9th  of  September,  1864.  I  was 
inside  the  stockade  all  the  time,  except  when  I  would  get  out  for  wood. 

In  some  places  the  water  was  very  good.  In  other  places  the  water  that  ran 
through  the  brook  was  not  fit  to  drink.  There  were  wells  and  springs  in  the  stock 
ade.  There  were  not  enough  wells  in  proportion  to  the  men.  I  should  think 
there  were  about  400  of  different  kinds.  The  springs  were  mostly  along  the 
swamp.  In  half  of  them  the  water  was  not  fit  to  drink,  on  account  of  the  maggots 
that  ran  all  over  the  swamp  into  the  water.  In  the  wells  that  were  deep — seventy- 
five  feet  deep — there  was  good  water  for  any  one  that  could  get  it. 

For  the  first  two  months  that  I  was  there  we  got  more  meal  than  we  could  use. 
We  had  it  there  by  bags  full.  For  the  last  three  months  that  I  was  there  we  had 
not  enough  to  eat  in  what  was  issued  to  us.  I  know  of  the  rations  being  some 
times  very  deficient.  They  would  be  so  because  some  of  the  detachments  that  were 

1  Rebel  witnesses  testified  that  the  cooking  facilities  were  entirely  inadequate  to  do  the 
necessary  baking. 


VIOLATION  OF  RULES  OF  WAK.  327 

not  full  drew  as  much  rations  as  the  detachments  that  had  their  full  complement. 
The  sergeants  generally  drew,  if  they  could,  for  their  whole  squad,  accounting 
for  the  men  some  way  or  other.  A  good  many  drew  double  rations. 

I  never  heard,  while  at  Andersonville,  of  Captain  Wirz  killing  or  shooting 
or  beating  or  kicking  men  to  death.  I  have  heard  of  it  since  I  came  to  Washing 
ton.  I  have  heard  him  curse  men  and  threaten  to  shoot  them. 

TESTIMONY  OF  AUGUSTUS  MOESNER. 

Augustus  Moesner,  Company  G,  16th  Connecticut  Volunteers,  testi 
fied  for  the  defense  :x 

Q.  What  do  you  know  about  little  boys  being  taken  out  of  the  stockade  and 
what  was  done  with  them? 

A.  There  were  about  forty  or  fifty  boys  inside  the  stockade,  who  had  been 
taken  prisoners,  and  Captain  Wirz  requested  Dr.  White  to  take  some  of  them  to 
the  hospital  as  helps  to  the  nurses  or  cooks  there,  because  it  was  no  use  to  keep 
those  boys  as  prisoners  of  war;  they  would  only  get  sick  and  die  inside  the  stock 
ade  or  they  would  get  spoilt  there,  and,  if  it  was  in  his  power,  he  would  send  them 
to  our  lines,  because  it  was  no  use  to  take  boys  as  prisoners  of  war. 

Captain  Wirz  took  them  out  of  the  stockade  and  sent  them  to  the  hospital. 
One  of  them,  a  small  little  boy,  who  seemed  to  be  ill,  he  took  in  our  office  and  told 
us  clerks  to  nurse  him,  and  we  had  him  there.  When  the  boys  were  taken  out  they 
were  sent  to  the  hospital  to  assist  the  nurses  and  cooks,  and  some  of  them  were 
sent  to  get  blackberries  for  the  sick. 

Q.  What  was  the  rule  in  regard  to  men  under  punishment  that  got  sick? 

A.  Well,  sir,  when  a  man  who  had  been  ordered  to  wear  a  ball  and  chain 
complained  that  he  was  sick,  a  doctor  was  sent  for,  and  if  he  found  that  it  was 
so,  the  ball  and  chain  would  be  taken  off  and  the  man  would  be  sent  to  the  hospital 
if  necessary;  also,  when  new  squads  of  prisoners  came  in,  and  there  were  men 
among  them  who  claimed  to  be  sick,  the  doctor  who  was  officer  of  the  day  was 
sent  for,  and  he  had  to  see  if  the  men  were  really  sick  or  not;  if  they  were  they 
were  sent  to  the  hospital.  I  recollect  also  that  once  there  was  a  man  amongst 
them  who  told  me  he  was  a  hospital  steward  in  our  army;  I  spoke  to  Captain 
Wirz  about  it,  and  the  man  was  immediately  sent  to  the  hospital  as  a  steward; 
he  was  paroled  and  was  not  sent  into  the  stockade  at  all.  Some  of  the  hospital 
attendants  serenaded  Captain  Wirz  and  Dr.  Stevenson,  and  I  understood  Dr. 
White  too. 

Q.  Did  you  at  your  headquarters  or  did  Captain  Wirz  have  anything  to  do  with 
vaccination?  If  so,  state  what. 

A.  When  I  was  first  sent  in  the  stockade  there  was  a  sergeant  near  my  tent 
whose  arm  was  very  sore;  he  told  me  that  it  was  caused  by  vaccination;  but  I  was 
only  a  short  time  inside  the  stockade.  When  I  was  outside  Dr.  White  gave  an 
order,  as  the  small-pox  was  increasing  among  the  prisoners,  that  all  men  who 
came  as  new  prisoners  to  Andersonville,  who  had  not  been  vaccinated,  should 
be  vaccinated.  One  day  a  prisoner  was  brought  out  to  Captain  Wirz  by  one  of  the 
doctors,  and  the  doctor  reported  to  Captain  Wirz  that  the  prisoner  refused  to  be 

*  Record,  p.  540  et  seq. 


328  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEBSONVILLE. 

vaccinated;  but  the  order  had  been  given  by  Dr.  White  and  not  by  Captain  Wirz, 
and  Wirz  told  him  that  he  had  nothing  to  do  with  it;  that  it  was  by  the  order 
of  Dr.  White  that  men  who  came  there,  and  had  not  been  vaccinated,  were  to  be 
vaccinated,  and  that  he  (Wirz)  would  not  care  a  damn  whether  they  died  of 
small-pox  or  not. 

Q.  Do  you  know  anything  about  Frado  or  "Frenchy,"  who  was  brought  in  by 
the  dogs?  If  you  do,  state  what  you  know  about  it. 

A.  Frado  was  a  Frenchman;  he  was  a  man  who  escaped  seven  times;  he  escaped 
once  when  I  was  inside  the  stockade;  he  went  out  by  tunneling;  there  were  four 
of  them  together;  I  saw  him  brought  back  with  a  ball  and  chain  on  him;  a  short 
time  afterwards  he  escaped  again;  I  do  not  know  in  which  way,  but  he  had  taken 
off  his  ball  and  chain;  and  so  he  escaped  several  times. 

Q.  What  do  you  know  about  his  being  brought  back  by  Captain  Wirz? 

A.  He  was  brought  back  once  when  he  had  made  his  escape. 

Q.  What  condition  was  he  in? 

A.  Those  men  who  should  make  the  chain-gang  were  sent  to  the  blacksmith's 
shop,  and  he  went  there. 

Q.  If  you  saw  him  come  back,  what  condition  was  he  in  and  what  did  they  do 
with  him? 

A.  He  was  brought  back  and  sent  to  the  stockade;  his  pants  were  torn  up; 
Captain  Wirz  was  very  muddy;  he  had  white  pants  on  but  they  were  muddy  away 
up  to  his  knees;  they  brought  Frenchy  inside  the  stockade,  and  the  next  day  he 
was  brought  out  again  by  one  of  the  Confederate  sergeants  to  our  office,  and  he 
said  that  it  was  because  he  had  said  to  the  sergeant  inside  the  stockade  that 
he  wanted  to  try  the  dogs  once  more;  Captain  Wirz  told  him  that  he  saw  it  was 
of  no  use  to  put  him  in  irons,  because  he  had  slipped  off  the  irons,  and  he  sent  him 
to  the  guard-house  and  kept  him  there;  I  saw  only  that  his  pants  were  torn  up; 
I  did  not  see  that  the  dogs  had  hurt  him;  I  did  not  hear  him  say  anything  him 
self  on  that  subject;  I  saw  him  afterwards  at  Millen,  and  also  at  Annapolis, 
when  we  were  exchanged;  they  kept  him  at  the  guard-house  after  he  was  taken 
out  of  the  stockade  until  he  was  sent  to  Savannah;  I  think  about  a  month — over 
a  month. 

I  never  saw,  knew,  or  heard  of  anybody  dying  at  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters 
who  had  been  bitten,  by  dogs. 

I  never  saw,  knew,  or  heard  about  Captain  Wirz  shooting,  beating,  or  killing 
men  in  any  way  while  I  was  there;  I  never  saw,  knew,  or  heard  in  any  way  of 
Captain  Wirz  carrying  a  whip  while  I  was  there.  He  never  did. 

Thirty  or  forty  boxes  were  in  that  first  lot  which  I  saw,  while  I  was  in  the 
stockade.  I  don't  know  whether  that  was  the  same  lot  Guscetti  told  about;  I 
don't  recollect  what  he  said.  The  first  boxes  we  got  were  sent  from  the  North 
by  friends  of  the  prisoners  in  the  month  of  May.  They  came  inside.  The  boxes 
were  of  different  size.  Some  were  so  long  [about  a  yard],  and  others  were  smaller. 

Q.  Then  they  were  from  a  foot  square  to  two  or  three  feet  square?  Those  are 
the  only  boxes  you  know  to  have  gone  into  the  prison  with  provisions? 

A.  Yes,  sir.  I  saw  them  when  they  came  inside  the  stockade.  I  saw  them  all 
distributed.  The  boxes  had  been  opened  before  and  examined.  The  second  time 
that  I  saw  boxes  arrive  was  in  August.  Then  we  got  clothing  sent  by  our  govern- 


VIOLATION  OF  EULES  OF  WAR. 


329 


L 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  MICHIGAN. 

ment — blue  pants,  shoes,  caps  and  blouses.  They  were  distributed  to  those  on 
duty  outside.  In  addition  to  double  rations,  we  also  got  the  clothing  that  came. 
That  clothing  was  not  distributed  to  those  inside  the  prison,  and  the  reason  stated 
was  that  the  quantity  was  so  small  that  there  would  be  too  much  fighting  about 
it.  There  were  many  men  in  there  who  needed  clothing.  That  was  the  only 
reason  assigned  for  not  sending  that  clothing  into  the  stockade,  and  the  clothing 
was  distributed  to  those  who  needed  it  outside.  I  got  some  of  that  clothing. 
I  got  blue  pants,  and  I  sold  them  and  bought  a  blanket,  because  I  had  none,  and 
I  had  been  lying  on  the  ground  with  nothing  to  cover  me.  I  sold  that  pair  of 
pants  for  five  dollars.  I  sold  them  to  a  rebel  sergeant.  I  have  seen  rebel  sergeants 
wearing  those  Federal  clothes;  I  saw  them  wearing  blue  pants  and  overcoats.  I 
don't  know  where  they  always  got  them.  I  don't  know  anything  about  it. 

I  stated  that  when  men  were  in  the  chain-gang  they  were  put  under  a  fly.  I 
saw  them  under  it;  I  have  seen  them  out  from  under  it;  I  saw  them  in  the  morn 
ing  going  down  to  the  cook-house  to  get  their  rations.  I  do  not  recollect  that 
I  saw  them  out  from  under  that  fly  at  any  other  times. 

I  know  all  about  the  orders  issued  in  regard  to  the  chain-gang;  I  know  that 
they  always  issued  from  General  Winder's  headquarters,  because  Captain  Wirz 
told  me.  All  that  I  know  about  it  is  what  Captain  Wirz  told  me,  and  he  told  me 
that  the  orders  came  from  General  Winder.  I  cannot  swear  that  I  ever  saw  a 
written  order  on  that  subject.  I  cannot  swear  that  I  ever  heard  General  Winder 


330  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

give  a  verbal  order  to  Captain  Wirz  on  that  subject.  I  don't  know  anything 
about  it  except  what  Captain  Wirz  told  me. 

Q.  Did  Captain  Wirz  always  tell  you  when  he  was  executing  an  order  of  this 
kind  that  it  came  from  General  Winder? 

A.  He  was  nearly  always  talking  about  it.  He  did  not  report  to  me  when 
General  Winder  sent  an  order  of  that  kind.  He  did  not  always  tell  me  from  whom 
the  order  came. 

Q.  Then  there  were  men  put  in  the  chain-gang  when  you  did  not  know  for  what 
reason,  or  on  whose  order? 

A.  I  know  so  far  as  Captain  Wirz  told  me.  But  he  did  not  always  tell  me.  I 
do  not  know  about  those  cases  in  which  he  did  not  tell  me;  I  do  not  know  anything 
about  those. 

Q.  Did  not  Captain  Wirz  always  direct  the  officer  to  put  the  men  in  the  chain- 
gang? 

A.  The  prisoners  were  sent  to  the  blacksmith  shop.  Captain  Wirz  sent  them 
there. 

Q.  He  sent  them  there  to  be  ironed? 

A.  I  did  not  hear  him  give  these  orders.  He  went  over  to  General  Winder,  and 
after  he  came  back  he  said  these  men  were  to  be  put  in  the  chain-gang.  He  very 
frequently  said  that  General  Winder  had  given  him  the  order. — not  always.  The 
men  could  be  put  in  the  stocks  by  Captain  Wirz's  order. 

Q.  Do  you  know  any  reason  why  he  could  not  also  order  them  put  in  the  chain- 
gang? 

A.  They  were  mostly  paroled  prisoners;  at  least  the  first  who  were  put  in  the 
chain-gang  were  paroled  prisoners.  Captain  Wirz  had  the  power  to  inflict  other 
punishment  besides  putting  men  in  the  stocks.  He  had  the  power  to  put  the  ball 
and  chain  on  them.  Nothing  else.  I  never  saw  a  man  bucked  and  gagged  while  I 
was  at  Andersonville.  1  don't  know  whether  he  could  issue  the  order  on  that 
subject.  I  don't  know  how  far  his  power  went.  My  observation  in  reference  to 
bucking  and  gagging  has  been  just  as  good  as  in  reference  to  anything  else.  I 
think  my  knowledge  and  opinion  on  that  point  are  just  as  good  as  on  anything 
else.  I  know  of  Captain  Wirz  ordering  men  to  be  whipped ;  I  have  heard  him  give 
the  order  to  whip  a  man.  That  is  another  thing  he  had  power  to  do ;  he  gave  the 
order.  No  men  were  tied  up  by  the  thumbs;  I  say  positively  that  I  never  knew  a 
man  to  be  tied  up  by  the  thumbs  while  I  was  there.  I  am  as  positive  in  reference 
to  that  as  anything  else.  I  think  that  no  man  was  tied  up  by  the  thumbs  there. 
Captain  Wirz  had  the  power  and  exercised  the  power  to  direct  that  prisoners  be 
caught  by  the  hounds.  He  had  that  power.  He  put  them  in  the  stocks.  I  don't 
recollect  any  other  punishments  than  what  I  have  mentioned.  Although  Captain 
Wirz  had  the  power  to  inflict  all  these  other  punishments,  he  had  no  power  to  put 
men  in  the  chain-gang,  so  far  as  I  know,  and  I  know  about  that  just  as  I  know 
about  everything  else. 

The  chain-gang  commenced  about  the  first  of  July  and  ended  the  latter  part  of 
July;  of  that  I  am  as  positive  as  of  anything  else.  I  did  not  hear  of  a  man's 
dying  in  the  chain-gang  with  the  chain  on  them;  I  never  heard  of  it.  I  swear 
positively  that  I  never  heard  of  a  man's  dying  in  the  stocks.1 

1  This  statement  is  in  conflict  with  the  testimony  of  rebel  and  other  witnesses. 


VIOLATION  OF  EULES  OF  WAE.  331 

I  say  Captain  Wirz's  right  arm  was  crippled.  In  a  battle  in  Virginia  he  was 
wounded.  I  do  not  know  that  he  was  hurt  by  being  thrown  from  a  stage-coach. 
He  never  told  me  that.  He  told  me  he  was  wounded.  He  told  me  once  his  whole 
story,  and  he  said  his  arm  was  crippled  by  a  piece  of  shell  somewhere  in  Virginia ; 
I  do  not  know  where,— in  1861  or  1862.  I  have  seen  Captain  Wirz  on  horseback 
very  often.  He  mounted  the  horse  on  the  right  side.  He  held  the  reins  in  his" left 
hand.1  I  never  recollect  seeing  him  hold  a  pistol;  he  had  a  pistol  generally  in  a 
belt  around  his  waist.  I  do  not  swear  positively  that  I  never  saw  a  pistol  in  his 
hand,  I  am  as  sure  of  that  as  of  everything  else.  I  have  seen  Captain  Wirz  write. 
He  wrote  with  his  right  hand.  He  ate  with  his  right  hand.  I  don't  recollect  seeing 
him  do  anything  else  with  his  right  hand.  It  did  not  attract  my  attention  especially 
what  hand  he  used. 

I  never  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  shooting,  kicking,  or  beating  a  Federal  prisoner 
while  I  was  at  Andersonville.  I  swear  positively  to  that;  I  saw  him  pushing 
prisoners  into  the  ranks,  but  not  that  they  could  be  hurt.  He  would  take  them 
by  the  arm  and  push  them  into  the  ranks  and  say  "God  damn  it!  couldn't  you 
stay  in  the  ranks  where  you  were  put?"  He  would  not  push  them  in  violently — a 
gentle  push.  He  was  violent  in  these  moments,  cursing  and  swearing,  as  he  always 
was  with  us,  but  he  seemed  harder  than  he  was.  I  never  saw  him  take  any  one  by 
the  throat,  but  by  the  shoulder  or  arm.  Not  with  both  hands;  with  one  hand.  I 
don't  know  which  hand.  I  have  seen  him  often  go  up  the  line  of  prisoners;  I  have 
seen  him  counting  them,  and  I  never  saw  him  with  his  pistol  in  his  hand  on  any 
of  these  occasions;  it  was  his  custom;  he  had  his  pistol  in  his  belt.  I  saw  him 
in  the  stockade  while  I  was  there;  I  saw  him  once  at  the  south  gate  and  once  on 
horseback  with  Lieutenant  Colonel  Persons,  and  I  saw  him  once  in  the  stockade 
while  I  was  outside.  I  saw  him  riding  among  the  prisoners  only  once  after  I  was 
taken  out.  On  none  of  those  occasions  I  never  saw  him  carry  a  pistol  except 
always  in  his  belt.  I  swear  positively  that  I  never  heard  of  Captain  Wirz  kicking 
or  shooting  a  prisoner,  nor  in  any  way  maltreating  him  except  as  I  have  stated. 

Q.  You  swear  positively  that  you  never  heard  of  a  man's  being  torn  by  the 
hounds. 

A.  I  saw  that  Frenchy  had  his  pants  torn.  That  is  the  only  instance  of  hounds 
tearing  the  soldiers'  clothes  or  flesh  that  I  ever  heard  of,  and  I  know  as  much 
about  these  things  as  about  anything  else.2 

During  the  month  of  August  Captain  Wirz  was  so  sick  that  he  did  not  come 
to  the  office.  He  was  sick  previously  and  sick  afterwards  while  he  was  still  in 
command.  In  the  first  days  of  August  he  was  on  duty  yet,  perhaps  up  to  the 
4th  or  5th  day  of  August,  and  about  the  last  day,  the  30th  or  31st,  he  came  back. 

Q.  Between  the  4th  and  30th  of  August  you  swear  positively  that  Captain  Wirz 
did  no  official  act? 

A.  He  was  not  on  duty.  He  was  confined  to  his  house  and  was  partly  on 
furlough.  I  heard  he  was  on  furlough  from  Lieutenant  Davis;  I  did  not  see 
him  going  off,  nor  see  him  returning.  I  know  he  was  confined  to  his  bed  by  hearing 
it;  I  did  not  see  him.s 

1  Can  a  horse  be  mounted  from  the  right  side  while  the  rider  holds  the  reins  in  his  left  hand? 

2  The  evidence  is  overwhelming  that  men  were  wounded  by  the  dogs. 
8  Record  evidence  disputes  this. 


332  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

TESTIMONY  OF  FREDERICK  ROTH. 

Frederick  Roth,  2nd  New  York  Cavalry,  was  a  prisoner  from  March 
to  September.  He  testified  :x 

I  recollect  seeing  Lieutenant  Davis  first  the  day  I  left  Andersonville — the  9th 
of  September,  1864.  I  think  he  went  in  the  same  train  with  us.  I  did  not  see 
him  till  I  got  to  Savannah.  I  never  heard,  while  at  Andersonville,  of  Captain 
Wirz  killing  or  shooting  or  beating  or  kicking  men  to  death.  I  heard  of  it  since  I 
came  to  Washington.  I  have  heard  him  curse  men  and  threaten  to  shoot  them. 

I  do  not  know  anything  about  Captain  Wirz,  except  that  for  the  first  month 
or  two  he  would  come  in  and  call  the  roll.  Captain  Wirz  would  curse  and  damn 
men  because  tney  would  sit  down,  or  would  not  stand  up  long  enough.  Some  men 
would  have  to  go  off  about  their  business,  and  if  he  was  not  there  just  at  the 
right  time  Captain  Wirz  would  send  him  outside.  I  do  not  know  what  was  done 
with  them,  but  some  said  they  were  put  in  the  stocks  or  bucked  and  gagged. 
That  is  all  I  know  about  Captain  Wirz.  I  never  saw  Captain  Wirz  lay  hands 
upon  any  one.  He  used  to  have  a  pistol  in  his  hand  most  of  the  time,  and  he 
would  make  the  men  stand  in  line.  I  cannot  say  that  I  ever  saw  him  make  sick 
men  stand  up  in  line. 


1  Record,  p.  604. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

TESTIMONY  OF  WITNESSES  TO  THE  CHARGE  OF  MURDER — PRISONERS  SHOT  BY  WIRZ 
PRISONERS  SHOT  BY  His  ORDER; — PRISONERS  KILLED  BY  THE  DOGS — MANY 
INSTANCES  OF  WIRZ'S  BRUTALITY — MEN  KILLED  BY  BEING  SHOT  IN  STOCKS 
AND  CHAIN  GANG. 

IN  giving  the  testimony  for  the  defense,  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
relating  to  the  more  specific  acts  of  cruelty  and  inhuman  treat 
ment  under  the  specifications  of  charge  1,  the  testimony  of  witnesses 
introduced  to  refute  the  evidence  taken  in  support  of  charge  2 — 
murder  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war — is  also  presented.  It  was 
not  found  practicable  to  segregate  this  testimony.  Indeed,  the  evi 
dence  under  charge  1  is  very  closely  related  to  that  directed  towards 
charge  2,  and  might  well  be  considered  with  it. 

However,  as  the  charge  of  murder,  if  established,  was  to  be  expiated 
alone  by  Wirz,  it  has  been  deemed  best  to  separately  group  some  of 
the  inculpatory  testimony.  Some  testimony  under  this  charge  appears 
in  previous  chapters. 

The  evidence  as  to  charge  2  is  directed  to  the  killing  of  prisoners 
by  means  of  the  stocks  or  chain-gang;  by  the  dogs;  by  Wirz's  orders, 
and  by  his  own  hand.  Such  testimony  as  bears  upon  these  specifica 
tions,  in  addition  to  the  testimony  already  stated,  will  be  given  as 
found  in  the  record  without  any  attempt  to  classify  it  or  group  it 
around  particular  instances  where  death  follows  the  act  or  acts.  That 
is  to  say,  the  testimony  bearing  upon  any  particular  homicide  will  not 
all  be  placed  in  a  separate  group. 

Dr.  A.  V.  Barrows  was  for  four  years  hospital  steward  of  the  27th 
Massachusetts  Regiment,  and  served  previous  to  his  capture  several 
months  as  assistant  post  surgeon  at  Plymouth.  He  reached  An- 
dersonville  on  May  27, 1864,  and  was  by  Captain  Wirz  placed  in  charge 
of  two  wards  in  the  hospital.  He  escaped  to  Pensacola,  in  our  lines, 
in  October,  and  was  mustered  out,  since  which  time  he  had  been  prac 
ticing  medicine  at  his  home.  In  his  evidence,  already  quoted,  he 
testified  that  a  man  escaped  from  the  hospital  in  July  and  was  over 
taken  by  the  dogs  and  brought  back  to  the  hospital.  "A  large  part  of 
his  ear  was  torn  off,  and  his  face  mangled.  That  man  got  well."  An 
other  instance  occurred  at  the  end  of  August  or  in  the  fore  part  of 
September;  the  exact  date  he  could  not  remember.  "He  had  been 
badly  bitten  by  the  dogs  in  trying  to  make  his  escape,  and  was  brought 


334  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

into  my  ward  and  died.  The  wound  took  on  gangrene  and  he  died. 
I  should  say  he  died  in  four  or  five  days  after  he  was  torn  by  the 
dogs.  I  know  the  wound  took  on  gangrene  and  he  died.  I  do  not 
think  he  died  directly  from  the  effects  of  the  wound.  I  think  he  died 
indirectly — it  was  from  the  effects  of  gangrene.  The  gangrene  was 
manifested  in  the  wound,  and  in  no  other  part.  He  was  bitten  through 
the  throat  on  the  side  of  the  neck,  and  gangrene  set  in  and  he  died. 
The  gangrene  was  the  result  of  the  bite,  in  my  opinion."  He  also 
declared,  as  will  be  seen  by  turning  to  his  testimony,  that  a  prisoner 
in  the  hospital  was  shot  by  the  guard  under  circumstances  clearly 
without  cause,  and  that  the  man  died  within  five  days.  He  also  testi 
fied  that  he  saw  Wirz  on  one  occasion  knock  down  and  stamp  upon  a 
sick  prisoner.1 

TESTIMONY  OF  SAMUEL  D.  BROWN. 

Samuel  D.  Brown  testified:2 

;  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  while  at  Andersonville.  I  knew  him  to  commit  acts  of 
cruelty — once  especially.  On  or  about  the  15th  of  May,  1864,  I  wrote  a  letter 
to  my  parents  and  took  it  to  the  south  gate  where  the  letter-box  was.  As  I  came 
up  near  the  gate  I  saw  a  cripple — a  man  with  one  leg,  on  crutches;  he  had  lost 
one  leg  above  the  knee.  He  was  asking  the  sentinel  to  call  Captain  Wirz.  He 
called  him,  and  in  a  few  minutes  he  came  up.  I  stopped  to  see  what  was  going 
to  be  done.  The  Captain  came  up  and  the  man  asked  him  to  take  him  outside  of 
the  prison,  as  he  had  enemies  in  the  camp.  I  presume  it  was  Captain  Wirz.  I 
did  not  know  him  so  well  then.  Captain  Wirz  was  the  man  that  was  called.  This 
cripple  asked  him  to  take  him  out;  he  said  his  leg  was  not  healed,  and  that  he 
had  enemies  in  camp  who  clubbed  him.  Captain  Wirz  never  answered  him,  but 
said  to  the  sentinel,  "Shoot  that  one-legged  Yankee  devil."  I  was  there  and 
heard  the  order,  and  saw  the  man  turn  on  his  crutches  to  go  away.  As  he  turned 
the  sentinel  fired,  and  the  ball  struck  him  on  the  head  and  passed  out  at  the  lower 
jaw.  The  man  fell  over,  and  expired  in  a  few  minutes.  The  sentinel  fired  at 
the  prisoner  with  a  musket.  The  prisoner  was  perhaps  two  feet  inside  the  dead 
line,  which  was  twenty-five  or  thirty  feet  from  the  stockade  and  almost  parallel 
with  it;  so  that  the  man  was  probably  thirty  feet  away  from  the  muzzle  of  the 
gun.  I  would  recognize  the  man  who  gave  that  order.  I  recognize  the  prisoner 
at  the  bar  as  him.  The  sentry  was  relieved;  I  saw  him  taken  down  out  of  the 
stand  outside.  That  was  the  last  I  saw  of  him.  Report  says  that  he  got  a  thirty 
days'  furlough.  I  have  witnessed  other  acts  of  cruelty. 

1  have  no  means  of  verifying  the  date  of  that  occurrence,  any  more  than  what 
I  have  stated.     It  was  on  the  15th  of  May  that  I  wrote  this  letter.     I  put  it  in 
the  office  the  same  day.     On  the  26th  of  last  December  I  came  home,  and  I  was 
there  six  or  eight  days  when  I  "lifted"  the  letter  at  the  office — the  letter  I  had 
myself  mailed  at  Andersonville.     That  was  the  only  letter  I  wrote  there. 

^Record,  p.  43  et  seq. 

2  Record,  p.  78. 


TESTIMONY  AS  TO  MURDEK.  335 

TESTIMONY  OF  J.  D.  BROWN. 

J.  D.  Brown  testified  i1 

I  am  a  brother  of  the  young  man  who  has  just  testified;  I  have  been  in  the 
military  service  of  the  United  States;  enlisted  on  the  31st  day  of  January,  1862, 
and  served  till  the  13th  June,  1865 ;  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  from  the 
20th  day  of  April,  1864,  to  the  9th  September,  1864;  I  was  in  the  Andersonville 
prison,  or  not  exactly  in  the  prison,  all  the  time;  from  the  3d  of  May  to  the  9th 
September  I  was  in  the  prison. 

I  saw  Captain  Wirz  there;  I  see  him  now,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar;  that  is  the 
same  man;  in  one  instance,  about  the  27th  of  July,  1864,  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  in 
the  sentry-box  with  the  sentinel  at  the  cook-house,  near  the  brook;  the  prisoners 
were  there  getting  water  from  the  brook,  and  men  would  accidentally  reach  under 
the  dead-line  to  get  water,  and  Captain  Wirz  ordered  the  sentinel,  if  any  men 
reached  through  the  dead-line  to  get  water,  to  shoot  them  down;  he  had  barely 
said  the  words  when  a  prisoner  reached  through  under  the  dead-line  with  his  cup 
to  get  some  water,  and  the  sentry  fired;  the  ball  took  effect  in  the  man's  head 
and  he  was  killed;  I  was  about  three  feet  off;  I  was  just  passing  the  brook  from 
one  side  of  the  stockade  to  the  other;  the  sentinel  had  in  his  hand  the  ordinary 
musket — a  soldier's  musket;  after  the  ball  had  entered  the  prisoner's  head  he 
dropped,  and  in  a  very  short  time  expired;  I  was  close  by  when  he  died;  I  saw 
him  after  he  was  dead;  I  saw  him  borne  away  to  the  gate  to  be  taken  out;  this 
happened  about  the  27th  of  July,  1864.  I  know  of  one  other  instance;  as  to  the 
date  I  am  not  so  well  posted  as  I  am  in  regard  to  the  others,  but  it  was  some 
time  about  the  middle  of  August,  1864;  from  the  same  sentry-box  Captain  Wirz 
ordered  the  sentinel  to  shoot  men  again  that  were  getting  water  from  the  brook; 
the  men  were  much  crowded,  as  they  always  were  at  that  place,  getting  water, 
and  I  was  crossing  the  brook  again;  I  had  some  friends  on  the  north  side  of  the 
stockade,  and  I  stopped  on  the  south  side;  Captain  Wirz  was  in  the  sentry-box 
with  the  sentinel;  he  gave  the  order  to  the  sentinel  and  the  sentinel  fired,  and  the 
ball  took  effect  in  the  man's  breast ;  I  did  not  see  the  man  die,  but  it  was  a  fatal 
wound;  there  was  no  doubt  of  that;  I  saw  where  the  ball  entered  the  breast; 
I  could  not  say  that  it  passed  through  him;  the  man  was  lying  on  his  back.  I  am 
sure  I  recognized  Captain  Wirz  on  that  occasion;  he  had  been  sick,  or  it  was  so 
reported  at  the  time,  and  I  did  not  know  he  was  on  duty;  I  am  certain  it  was 
Captain  Wirz. 

Martin  E.  Hogan's  testimony  is  given  in  previous  pages.  He  tes 
tified  further  :2 

I  saw  Captain  Wirz  at  the  time  the  prisoners  were  being  removed  from  Ander 
sonville  to  Millen  take  a  man  by  the  coat  collar  because  he  could  not  walk  faster. 
The  man  was  so  worn  out  with  hunger  and  disease  that  if  he  had  got  the  whole 
world  I  do  not  think  he  could  move  faster  than  he  was  moving.  Captain  Wirz 
wrenched  him  back  and  stamped  upon  him  with  his  boot.  The  man  was  borne 
past  me,  bleeding  from  his  mouth  or  nose,  I  cannot  say  which,  and  he  died  a 
short  time  afterwards.  When  I  speak  of  Captain  Wirz,  I  mean  the  man  sitting 

1  Record,  p.  79. 

2  Record,  p.  89. 


336  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

there  [pointing  to  the  prisoner].  I  have  no  doubt  of  his  identity.  I  should  know 
him  anywhere.  The  prisoners  commenced  to  move  from  there  from  the  5th  to 
the  8th  of  September,  1864,  and  this  occurred  inside  of  a  week  from  that  time. 
It  was  some  time  in  the  early  part  of  September.  I  cannot  say  within  two  or  three 
days  what  date  it  was. 

The  following  proceedings  took  place  and  will  explain  themselves:1 
Upon  the  meeting  of  the  court  on  the  30th  of  August,  General  Thomas  stated 
that  the  prisoner,  as  he  had  been  informed  by  his  counsel,  had  last  night  been 
confined  with  handcuffs  which  had  injured  his  wrists.  While  he  (General  Thomas; 
was  well  aware  that  the  court  had  no  control  or  responsibility  with  regard  to  the 
treatment  of  the  prisoner  outside  of  the  courtroom,  yet,  as  the  prisoner  while  in 
prison  might  need  to  write  for  the  purpose  of  preparing  his  defense,  it  might 
be  worthy  of  consideration  by  the  court  whether  such  rigorous  treatment  as  con 
finement  with  handcuffs  might  not  be  dispensed  with. 

The  Judge  Advocate  stated  that  the  treatment  referred  to  had  been  resorted 
to  as  a  matter  of  precaution  and  at  the  suggestion  of  one  of  the  counsel  of  the 
prisoner  (Mr.  Baker),  who  had  stated  on  the  evening  of  his  proposed  retirement 
from  the  case  that  he  believed  there  was  great  reason  to  apprehend  that  the  pris 
oner  might  commit  suicide  before  the  next  morning. 

It  was  not  unusual  for  prisoners  charged  with  offenses  such  as  are  alleged 
against  Captain  Wirz  to  be  kept  in  close  confinement  and  with  handcuffs. 

The  court  was  responsible  for  the  treatment  of  the  prisoner  only  while  he  was 
in  the  presence  of  the  court,  and  could  not  with  propriety  direct  the  nature  of  his 
treatment  while  in  custody  of  the  prison-keeper.  The  government  did  not  propose 
to  apply  the  lex  talionis.  Doubtless,  if  the  court  desired  it,  Colonel  Colby  would 
exempt  the  prisoner  from  any  such  treatment  in  the  future.  If  the  prisoner's 
wrists  had  been  injured  by  the  handcuffs,  it  was  no  doubt  unintentional,  and  was 
altogether  unknown  to  Colonel  Colby. 

GENERAL  THOMAS.  I  mentioned  this  matter  simply  because  it  had  been  sug 
gested  to  me  by  one  of  the  prisoner's  counsel.  I  distinctly  stated  that  the  court 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  prisoner  while  not  in  its  presence. 

Mr.  Baker  said  that  on  the  evening  referred  to,  the  prisoner  was  in  a  state  of 
mind  so  distracted  that  it  was  a  matter  of  grave  apprehension  as  to  what  he 
might  be  tempted  to  do,  as  he  at  that  time  said  to  his  counsel  that  if  they  left 
him  then,  he  would  never  again  come  into  the  presence  of  the  court.  Counsel  had 
stated  this  at  the  time  to  the  Judge  Advocate,  and  had  added  that  he  did  not  know 
but  that  it  was  necessary  to  confine  the  prisoner  closely.  But  that  suggestion  was 
intended  to  be  limited  to  that  particular  time,  and  probably  ought  not  to  have 
been  made  at  all. 

The  prisoner  made  no  complaint  himself  of  any  harsh  treatment;  the  guards 
and  others  in  charge  of  him  had  been  uniformly  kind.  The  fact  that  he  had  been 
injured  last  night  by  the  handcuffs  was  doubtless  one  of  those  accidents  for  which 
no  one  was  to  blame.  But  for  the  sickly  condition  of  the  prisoner  the  handcuffs 
would  not  have  injured  him.  He  (Mr.  Baker)  was  sorry  that  his  colleague  had 
brought  the  matter  to  the  attention  of  the  court.  He  presumed  that  the  same 
thing  would  not  occur  again. 
1  Record,  p.  98. 


338  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.  The  government  must  take  its  own  course  with  regard 
to  its  prisoner. 

MR.  BAKER.    It  will  not  occur  as  a  consequence  of  any  suggestion  of  mine. 
THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE.    Certainly  not. 

TESTIMONY  OF  0.  S.  BELCHER. 

0.  S.  Belcher  testified  r1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  16th  Illinois 
Cavalry.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  from  the  8th  March  to  the  8th  Sep 
tember,  1864. 

I  saw  Captain  Wirz  order  one  man  shot  there  one  day,  and  the  guard  shot  him; 
I  did  not  see  him  do  it,  but  I  heard  him.  It  was  a  man  that  was  a  cripple  and 
went  on  a  crutch.  Captain  Wirz  was  in  the  stockade  and  this  man  went  up  to 
him,  and  wanted  him  to  take  him  outside.  Captain  Wirz  would  not  do  it,  and 
finally  this  cripple  went  over  the  dead-line,  and  said  he  would  rather  he  shot  than 
stay  there,  and  begged  the  guard  to  shoot  him.  The  guard  would  not  shoot  him, 
and  Captain  Wirz  went  outside  the  stockade.  There  was  a  large  crowd  inside 
the  stockade;  pretty  soon  I  heard  Wirz  halloo  to  the  sentry  on  the  post.  He 
was  outside  the  stockade  in  a  little  kind  of  canal  which  they  used  to  drive  into 
the  stockade.  I  heard  him  tell  him  if  the  man  did  not  go  back  over  the  dead-line, 
the  guard  was  to  shoot  him.  The  guard  told  the  man  to  go  back ;  he  did  not,  and 
was  shot.  The  ball  took  effect  in  the  jaw  and  passed  down  through  the  breast. 
A  few  minutes  after  Wirz  came  on  the  top  of  the  stockade  and  threatened  that 
if  we  did  not  go  to  our  quarters,  he  would  fire  upon  us  and  shoot  some  more 
of  us.  The  man  that  was  shot  was  called  "Chickamauga."  That  happened  at  the 
south  gate.  I  do  not  exactly  remember  the  month.  I  think  it  was  some  time  in 
June.  We  never  paid  any  attention  to  such  things  there  in  regard  to  dates.  It 
was  hard  for  us  to  tell  whether  we  were  going  to  live  to  get  out.  The  crippled 
man  had  lost  one  of  his  legs;  he  went  on  a  crutch. 

I  saw  Captain  Wirz  use  his  revolver.  After  he  took  command,  we  were  called 
up  and  counted  off  in  hundreds.  I  was  sergeant  of  a  hundred.  There  was  a 
man  belonging  to  my  hundred  who  had  got  away.  Captain  Wirz  had  threatened 
that  if  any  man  left  the  ranks,  he  would  shoot  him.  This  man  left  the  ranks. 
He  was  sick,  and  was  not  able  to  stand  up.  They  kept  us  standing  there  in  the 
hot  sun  all  day,  and  would  not  allow  any  of  us  to  go  to  get  water  or  anything 
else.  This  man  started  to  go  out  of  the  ranks  and  Wirz  pulled  out  his  revolver 
and  fired  at  him.  The  ball  went  through  the  top  of  his  hat,  but  did  not  hit  him. 

James  K.  Davidson's  testimony  has  already  been  given  upon  sev 
eral  matters,  including  the  shooting  of  prisoners  by  the  guard,  and 
the  boast  of  Wirz  that  he  was  "killing  more  Yankees  than  Lee  was  at 
Richmond."  He  testified  further:2 

I  saw  Captain  Wirz  shoot  a  man;  it  was  about  the  first  of  April,  I  think, 
shortly  after  he  took  command  there;  Captain  Wirz  was  coming  in  the  south  gate 

1  Record,  p.   135. 

2  Record,  pp.  142,  146. 


TESTIMONY  AS  TO  MUBDEE.  339 

one  day;    a  sick  man,  as  I  took  him  to  be,  a  lame  man,  asked  Captain  Wirz  some 
thing,  and  Captain  Wirz  turned  round  and  shot  him;    the  man  died. 

Captain  Wirz  shot  this  man  that  I  have  spoken  of  on  the  south  side  of  the 
branch,  up  pretty  near  the  gate,  on  the  inside  of  the  stockade.  I  think  it  was 
in  April.  I  don't  think  it  was  later  than  the  10th  of  April.  Captain  Wirz  had 
not  been  there  a  great  while.  He  shot  the  man  with  a  revolver.  I  cannot  tell  the 
man's  name,  nor  to  what  company  or  regiment  he  belonged.  I  never  saw  the  man 
before  that.  I  saw  him  after  he  was  shot,  when  they  were  carrying  him  out  of 
the  gate.  He  was  dead.  Captain  Wirz  had  on  white  clothes  then.  I  would  not 
call  it  a  Confederate  uniform;  I  would  call  it  a  citizen  dress.  He  had  on  his 
head  a  gray  cap.  I  never  saw  him  wear  anything  else.  His  coat  was  not  made 
in  uniform  style.  I  believe  he  had  brass  buttons  on  his  coat;  I  am  not  certain. 
It  had  a  turndown  collar.  I  never  saw  Captain  Wirz  shoot  more  than  one  man, 
and  that  was  near  the  south  gate,  inside  the  stockade.  He  was  not  within  the 
dead-line. 

TESTIMONY  OP  OLIVER  B.  FAIRCLOUGH. 

Oliver  B.  Fairclough  testified:1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  9th  New  York 
Cavalry.  I  was  taken  prisoner  October  10,  1863.  I  was  first  taken  to  Libby 
Prison,  Eichmond.  I  remained  there  until  some  time  in  February,  1864.  I  was 
then  taken  to  Andersonville.  My  treatment  in  Libby  Prison  was  better  in  every 
respect  than  at  Andersonville.  I  was  in  the  stockade  at  Andersonville  all  the 
time. 

Captain  Wirz  took  command  about  six  weeks  after  I  went  there,  and  he  was  in 
command  there  all  the  time  afterwards,  from  that  time  until  the  time  I  left.  He 
attended  roll-call  when  he  first  went  there,  until  the  number  of  prisoners  became 
too  great  for  one  man  to  superintend  the  roll-call.  His  manner  at  roll-call  was 
very  overbearing  and  abusive.  He  generally  saluted  the  prisoners  by  calling  them 
"damned  Yankee  sons  of  bitches."  He  often  abused  the  prisoners.  It  was  of 
frequent  occurrence.  I  know  a  person  whom  he  kicked.  He  was  my  father.  One 
morning  Captain  Wirz  came  to  roll-call  when  my  father  was  lying  in  a  helpless 
condition.  He  was  affected  with  scurvy.  His  legs  were  drawn  up  so  he  could 
not  straighten  them,  and  also  his  arms.  While  he  lay  in  that  condition  Captain 
Wirz  came  up  to  him  several  times  and  told  him  he  wished  him  to  fall  in  at 
Toll-call  or  he  would  kick  him.  He  did  finally  Kick  him,  and  abuse  him  in  lan 
guage  most  shamefully.  He  said,  "You  God-damned  Yankee  son  of  a  bitch,  if 
you  don't  fall  in  at  roll-call  I  will  not  give  you  anything  to  eat  for  a  week."  He 
stopped  my  father's  rations.  On  such  occasions  as  I  have  referred  to  twenty-four 
hours  was  the  longest  period  at  one  time.  The  kicking  caused  my  father  to  have 
a  very  severe  pain  in  his  side.  I  saw  him  beat  other  prisoners;  I  saw  him  knock 
a  man  down  with  his  pistol  for  entering  a  complaint  about  the  rations  being  so 
poor.  My  father  died  while  in  prison,  about  a  month  after  the  occurrence  I 
'have  narrated.  I  have  a  statement  of  his  made  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He 
made  a  verbal  statement  to  me  at  the  time  he  died.  He  called  me  by  name 
and  said  he  died  from  sheer  starvation,  and  asked  me  not  to  tell  my  mother, 

1  Record,  p.  154. 


340  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

his  wife,  the  awful  condition  in  which  he  was  compelled  to  die.  After  he  had 
spoken  those  words  I  wrote  them  down,  and  held  his  hand  upon  the  paper,  and 
he  signed  his  name.  I  did  not  guide  the  pencil,  I  merely  placed  his  hand  upon 
the  paper.  He  was  perfectly  rational  until  the  last. 

[A  paper  being  exhibited  to  the  witness,  he  identified  it  as  the  one  just  referred 
to  in  his  testimony.  The  Assistant  Judge  Advocate  proposed  to  offer  it  in  evi 
dence.  Mr.  Baker  objected.] 

THE  COURT.    How  long  before  he  died  did  your  father  sign  that  paper? 

A.     He  did  not  live,  I  think,  ten  minutes  after  he  signed  it. 

[The  court,  after  deliberation,  overruled  the  objection,  and  the  paper  was  ad 
mitted  in  evidence.  The  following  is  a  copy:] 

CAMP  SUMTER,  ANDERSON VILLE,  August  27,  1864. 
Oliver,  I  die  from  sheer  starvation,  and  don't  for  the  world  tell 
your  mother  of  the  awful  condition  I  am  compelled  to  die  in. 

EICHARD  FAIRCLOUGH. 

I  saw  a  man  shot  who  was  lying  in  his  tent  near  the  dead-line.  The  sentinel 
who  shot  him  fired  at  another  man  and  missed  him,  and  shot  this  man  who  was 
lying  in  his  tent.  I  saw  the  sentinel  when  he  shot.  I  immediately  went  to  the 
tent  where  the  man  was  lying  and  saw  him  lying  there,  and  afterwards  saw  him 
die.  I  went  directly  to  where  the  sentinel  was  and  asked  why  he  did  not  halt 
men  before  shooting,  as  there  were  a  great  many  in  camp  who  did  not  understand 
the  meaning  of  the  dead-line.  He  told  me  that  Captain  Wirz  held  out  as  an 
inducement  to  them  a  thirty  days'  furlough  to  every  man  who  would  shoot  a 
Yankee.  I  said  no  more  to  him. 

TESTIMONY  OF  WILLIAM  WILLIS  SCOTT. 

William  Willis  Scott  testified  r1 

I  am  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  6th  West  Virginia 
Cavalry.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville.  I  was  captured  June  26,  1864.  I 
remained  at  Lynchburg,  I  think,  three  weeks,  and  I  arrived  at  Andersonville, 
I  think,  the  middle  of  August. 

I  know  Captain  Wirz  very  well.  I  saw  him  commit  acts  of  cruelty  on  prisoners. 
In  one  case  I  was  coming  down  after  a  bucket  of  water.  I  belonged  away  up 
in  what  they  called  the  new  stockade  on  the  north  side.  Captain  Wirz  was  coming 
in.  A  sick  man  was  sitting  on  the  side  of  the  bank.  He  asked  Captain  Wirz  if 
he  could  get  out;  Captain  Wirz  turned  around,  gave  him  a  kind  of  sour  look, 
and  said,  "Yes,  God  damn  it,  I  will  let  you  out,"  and  with  the  revolver  he  struck 
the  fellow  over  the  head  and  shoulders  several  times.  The  fellow  went  to  his  tent 
then.  On  the  third  morning,  I  think,  I  made  it  my  business  to  go  down  and  see 
him.  He  was  dead.  He  had  died  the  night  before.  I  saw  him.  I  suppose  he 
died  from  the  effects  of  the  beating  with  the  pistol.  He  was  pretty  badly  bruised 
around  the  head  and  face.  I  think  he  beat  him  with  the  butt  of  the  revolver  which 
he  had  in  his  hand.  I  don't  remember  which  hand  he  used.  He  knocked  the  man 
down  the  first  blow.  I  think  this  was  about  the  25th  or  26th  of  August,  1864. 
I  cannot  give  the  man's  name.  I  did  not  inquire  about  that.  I  just  came  down 
to  see  if  he  was  much  the  worse  for  his  treatment,  and  I  did  not  inquire  any 
further. 


1  Record,  p.  194. 


TESTIMONY  AS  TO  MURDER.  341 

i  saw  Captain  Wirz  on  one  occasion  coming  in  between  the  stockade  and  the 
dead-line;  one  of  his  own  guards  was  up  above,  and  a  stone  or  a  brickbat,  I  can 
not  tell  which,  was  thrown  down  and  hit  Captain  Wirz  on  the  back.  His  own 
guard  threw  it;  I  saw  the  guard  throw  it.  Captain  Wirz  wheeled  around  on  his 
horse  and  there  was  near  him  one  of  our  prisoners  coming  out  of  his  tent.  He 
shot  and  struck  the  man  on  the  head.  He  made  no  inquiries  before  firing.  He 
never  made  any  inquiries  nor  looked.  He  just  rode  on.  He  cut  off  the  skin  of 
the  fellow's  head  along  with  some  of  the  hair.  He  was  only  stunned  a  little;  he 
got  up  and  went  into  his  tent.  Captain  Wirz  did  not  make  any  inquiries  at  all. 

TESTIMONY  OP  PRESCOTT  TRACY. 

Prescott  Tracy  testified:1 

I  am  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States.  I  am  a  lieutenant.  I  was 
commissioned  last  year.  My  previous  position  in  the  army  was  sergeant.  I  was 
taken  prisoner.  I  was  at  the  Andersonville  prison.  I  was  taken  on  the  22d  June, 
1864,  in  the  last  charge  we  made  on  Petersburg.  I  was  taken  to  Andersonville,  1 
think,  the  last  of  June  of  that  year.  I  was  put  in  the  stockade  when  I  got  there, 
by  Captain  Wirz.  I  was  in  there  until  the  17th  of  August  of  the  same  year.  I 
was  pretty  near  starved  to  death. 

I  saw  the  prisoner  [Wirz]  very  often.  I  never  saw  him  commit  acts  of  cruelty 
upon  prisoners  himself,  but  I  saw  him  give  the  orders  to  do  it,  to  shoot  a  man. 
I  could  not  give  the  day  exactly;  I  know  that  it  was  a  Wednesday,  that  is  all  I 
know.  In  the  month  of  August  the  man  was  shot.  His  name  was  Roberts.  I  can 
not  tell  what  regiment  he  belonged  to.  He  was  what  we  called  "fresh  fish,"  just 
come  in  by  the  north  gate,  and,  not  knowing  the  rules  and  regulations,  he  went 
to  take  a  drink  at  the  creek,  and,  it  being  muddy  there,  he  slipped  and  fell  in 
so  that  his  head  went  about  six  inches  inside  the  dead-line.  Captain  Wirz  was 
behind  me,  perhaps  the  distance  of  this  room  or  a  little  more,  and  he  hallooed  to 
the  sentry,  "God  damn  your  soul,  why  don't  you  shoot  that  Yankee  son  of  a  bitch?" 
That  was  the  expression  he  made  use  of.  The  sentinel  fired  and  shot  the  man 
through  the  top  of  the  head  and  the  ball  came  out  at  the  back  of  his  neck.  The 
sentry  did  not  say  anything  at  the  time;  he  only  just  fired.  I  lay  down,  for  I 
was  afraid  of  getting  shot  myself.  This  was  in  August,  the  forepart  of  August. 
I  could  not  tell  the  date,  because  we  did  not  know  one  day  from  another  there. 
The  man  did  not  live;  he  died  right  in  the  creek,  and  we  pulled  him  out  and 
buried  him  that  same  afternoon.  I  never  saw  any  other  man  shot.  I  heard  the 
reports  of  guns,  but  I  never  saw  a  man  shot.  I  saw  one  laid  out,  but  did  not 
see  him  shot.  He  was  shot  and  dead,  and  we  were  going  to  bury  him,  and  he 
was  what  is  called  laid  out.  I  do  not  know  the  circumstances  under  which  he  was 
shot. 

I  saw  men  in  the  stocks.  I  could  not  tell  you  when  I  saw  some.  I  never  saw 
men  die  in  the  stocks,  but  I  saw  men  die  afterwards.  I  saw  men  die  on  the  south 
side  of  the  stockade  from  the  effects  of  being  in  the  stocks.  I  do  not  know  their 
names.  They  were  stretched  out  in  the  stocks;  then  pieces  of  wood  across  their 
necks  and  across  their  feet,  and  their  hands  were  stretched  out  as  far  as  they 
could  go  and  tied  down,  and  there  they  lay  with  the  sun  pouring  right  down  on 
them.  They  died  the  next  morning  after  they  were  in  the  stocks.  The  first  case  T 
1  Record,  p.  212  et  seq. 


342  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

saw  was  a  man  belonging  to  the  3d  Pennsylvania  Cavalry.  He  was  stretched  out 
full  length  with  his  head  up  before  the  sun,  with  a  piece  of  wood  right  across  his 
neck,  and  another  across  his  two  feet,  and  there  he  lay  from  nine  in  the  morning 
until  nearly  six  in  the  afternoon.  The  next  time  I  saw  him  he  was  a  corpse;  it 
was  the  next  morning;  I  helped  to  carry  him  out.  I  cannot  remember  the  date. 
We  could  not  remember  one  day  from  another  there.  We  could  not  tell  Sunday 
from  Monday.  It  was  in  August,  the  fore  part.  I  never  saw  any  one  else  die 
after  being  in  the  stocks.  When  the  man  died  he  was  out  of  the  stockade,  in 
a  little  shanty  made  of  trees.  He  was  not  brought  back  after  he  was  in  the 
stocks. 

[To  the  Court:]  Captain  Wirz  was  behind  me,  about  the  length  of  this  room, 
when  the  man  was  shot.  I  hallooed,  "Eoberts,  Eoberts,  for  Christ's  sake  get  out 
of  that!"  That  was  the  expression  I  made  use  of,  and  Captain  Wirz  was  behind 
me  with  one  hand  behind  his  coat.  He  was  outside  the  dead-line,  on  the  street, 
or  the  road  down  to  the  creek,  coming  down  from  the  north  gate.  Before  I  had 
time  to  get  the  man  out,  or  speak  to  him  a  second  time,  he  was  shot.  Captain 
Wirz  was  inside  of  the  stockade,  on  the  road  down  towards  the  south  side  of 
the  stockade.  He  was  walking  down  the  street  at  the  time.  I  am  sure  I  saw 
him,  I  can  swear  to  it,  and  if  he  will  look  me  in  the  face  he  knows  it. 

TESTIMONY  OF  FELIX  DE  LA  BAUME. 

Felix  De  La  Baume  testified  t1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  35th  New  York 
Volunteers.  I  was  a  prisoner  of  war  at  Andersonville  from  July  8,  1864,  till 
April  19,  1865. 

I  know  the  prisoner,  Captain  Wirz.  On  the  8th  of  July  I  arrived  at  Ander 
sonville,  with  three  or  four  hundred  other  prisoners,  most  of  them  sick  and 
wounded.  We  were  brought  up  to  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters,  were  drawn  up 
in  line  four  ranks  deep,  and  kept  there  for  a  considerable  length  of  time,  without 
any  business  being  transacted.  The  guards  had  orders  to  let  none  of  us  go  to 
the  water.  One  of  the  prisoners  was  attacked  with  epilepsy  or  fits;  he  fell  down; 
some  of  his  friends  or  neighbors  standing  near  him  ran  down  to  the  creek  after 
water.  I  don't  know  whether  they  had  permission  of  the  guard;  I  suppose  so, 
because  the  guard  was  tied  up  by  the  thumbs  for  permitting  them  to  do  so.  First 
I  heard  a  shot  fired,  without  seeing  who  fired  it.  After  hearing  that  shot  fired, 
I  looked  down  to  the  left  and  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  fire  two  more  shots,  wounding 
two  men.  One  of  them  was  carried  up  near  his  headquarters,  and,  in  my  opinion, 
was  in  a  dying  condition.  The  other  was  wounded,  too,  but  I  did  not  see  him 
again.  I  never  saw  him  afterwards.  The  one  who  was  carried  up  near  the  head 
quarters  was  wounded  somewhere  in  the  breast.  Captain  Wirz  had  a  revolver  in 
his  hand.  I  was  perhaps  twenty  paces  distant  from  him.  I  am  not  positive  about 
the  distance.  The  prisoner  whom  he  shot  was  not  very  far  from  him.  I  am  cer 
tain  I  saw  Captain  Wirz  discharge  the  pistol  in  his  hand.  I  did  not  myself  see 
the  man  who  was  brought  up  to  headquarters  die;  but  he  was  evidently  in  a  dying 
condition,  judging  by  his  appearance;  I  never  saw  him  again.  We  were  not 
allowed  to  speak  to  the  guard,  and  I  could  not  make  any  inquiries.  Captain  Wirz 
asked  the  lieutenant  of  the  guard,  "Where  is  the  guard  who  allowed  this  man  to 

1  Record,  p.  282  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  AS  TO  MUKDEK.  343 

fall  out  of  the  ranks?"  The  guard  was  pointed  out,  and  Captain  Wirz  ordered 
him  to  be  tied  up  by  the  thumbs  for  two  hours.  After  this  Captain  Wirz  pointed 
out  the  man,  and  said,  "That  is  the  way  I  get  rid  of  you  damned  sons  of  bitches." 
I  myself  saw  the  man  fall  down ;  he  had  epileptic  fits,  and  I  was  informed  that 
the  men  ran  after  water  for  him.  We  had  not  received  any  water  all  night ;  they 
kept  us  all  night  in  the  cars;  on  the  way  down  from  Macon  to  Andersonville 
we  had  no  water.  When  we  passed  the  creek  we  wished  to  get  some  water,  but 
we  were  not  allowed  to  have  any.  We  were  kept  there  at  the  headquarters  of 
Captain  Wirz  for  about  two  hours,  without  receiving  a  drink.  We  were  then 
divided  into  squads  and  transported  into  the  stockade.  I  was  taken  out  with  four 
other  men  to  be  put  into  the  71st  detachment,  and  was  shortly  afterwards  taken 
away  from  the  headquarters  into  the  stockade.  All  I  can  state  as  to  whether  the 
man  died  from  that  gunshot  wound  is  that  he  was,  in  my  opinion,  in  a  dying  con 
dition;  I  judged  so  from  his  heaving  up  and  down  and  from  his  gasping  for 
breath.  I  have  seen  many  men  on  the  battlefield  in  the  same  condition,  and  they 
always  died  shortly  afterwards.  The  blood  was  running  out  from  his  breast  or 
the  middle  of  his  body  somewhere.  All  I  heard  about  it  afterwards  was  from  a 
rebel  sergeant;  I  think  his  name  was  Colby;  he  said  the  man  died;  he  told  me 
that  some  time  after  I  was  in  the  stockade. 

In  the  month  of  December,  1864,  when  it  was  so  very  cold,  we  did  not  receive 
any  wood  in  the  hospital.  I  obtained  sometimes  a  pass  from  Edward  Young,  who 
was  chief  cook  there,  and  from  Jim  Lane,  who  was  also  a  cook;  they  were  Federal 
prisoners.  On  those  passes  I  used  to  go  outside  of  the  hospital  enclosure  to  gather 
up  some  wood,  so  as  to  have  some  fire  in  the  tent  where  I  stopped.  Going  out 
one  day,  I  saw  a  man  named  Edler,  a  private  in  the  39th  New  York  Volunteers, 
who  was  captured  on  the  6th  of  February  near  Martinsburg.  I  saw  him  tied, 
with  an  iron  collar  round  his  neck,  to  a  post.  As  I  had  the  pass  of  another  man, 
which  was  always  punished  when  it  was  found  out,  as  soon  as  I  saw  Captain  Wirz 
standing  near  him  I  went  off,  so  as  not  to  be  captured  myself,  because  if  Captain 
Wirz  had  found  out  that  I  had  the  pass  of  another  man  he  would  have  punished 
me  too.  I  heard  this  man  Edler  say  something  to  Captain  Wirz,  whereupon  Wirz 
said,  "One  word  more,  and  I  will  blow  your  damned'  brain  to  hell,"  holding  a  pistol 
towards  his  head.  I  have  drawn  a  representation  of  that  scene.  [A  drawing 
being  exhibited  to  witness:]  I  draughted  this  from  recollection.  This  figure  rep 
resents  a  guard  standing  over  the  man.  That  is  a  true  representation.  There  was 
a  guard,  a  captain,  and  some  other  man.  I  only  represented  one  guard,  but  there 
were  some  more  rebels  about  there. 

The  man  was  afterwards  sent  back  to  the  hospital,  of  which  he  was  an  inmate. 
As  he  belonged  to  my  regiment  I  took  an  interest  in  him,  and  as  soon  as  he  came 
back  to  the  hospital  I  went  to  his  tent  to  make  inquiries,  but  his  neck  and  his 
tongue  were  so  much  swollen  that  he  was  unable  to  speak,  and  was  evidently  in 
a  dying  condition.  The  nurse,  named  Butsell,  told  me  that  the  man  was  punished 
for  having  gone  out  on  a  forged  pass.  The  man  died  two  or  three  days  after 
ward;  I  only  visited  him  once  while  in  that  condition;  the  second  time  I  went 
there  he  was  dead;  I  cannot  say  whether  the  swollen  neck  and  tongue  still  con 
tinued.  The  first  time  I  was  there  his  neck  and  tongue  were  very  much  swollen; 
when  I  came  there  again  he  was  dead.  I  don't  think  he  died  from  the  effects  of 


344  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

that  iron  collar  round  his  neck  alone;  if  he  had  been  a  stout,  healthy  man,  he 
might  have  stood  it;  but  he  was  very  far  reduced  already,  almost  to  a  skeleton, 
by  starvation,  before  he  was  put  in  the  irons.  His  neck  or  tongue  was  not  swollen 
before  he  was  put  in  the  irons.  He  was  able  to  speak  before  he  was  put  in  the 
irons.  This  circumstance  happened  near  the  end  of  December,  1864,  after  Christ 
mas.  I  have  seen  men  bucked  and  gagged.  In  going  out  on  these  passes  of  which 
I  have  spoken,  I  had  several  opportunities  of  seeing  men  bucked  and  gagged.  I 
have  drawn  a  representation  of  the  front  and  side  views  of  that  bucking  and 
gagging  operation.  [A  drawing  being  exhibited  to  witness:]  That  is  a  correct 
representation.  I  drew  it  from  my  recollection.  One  of  the  figures  here  repre 
sents  a  sentry  standing  over  the  man.  The  other  person  standing  by  was  one  of 
the  rebel  sergeants. 

1  remember  about  the  hounds.  In  the  month  of  September,  1864,  I  was  allowed 
to  go  out  after  wood.  At  that  time  Captain  Wirz  allowed  squads  of  twenty-five 
to  go  out  after  wood  about  a  mile  distant  from  the  stockade.  At  that  time  I 
myself  was  not  able  to  carry  any  wood,  but  I  availed  myself  of  the  opportunity 
to  go  out  to  have  some  fresh  air.  I  went  out  with  a  man  named  Louis  Holm,  of 
the  5th  New  York  Cavalry.  We  were  both  starved;  we  had  had  nothing  to  eat 
in  consequence  of  being  unable  to  cook  our  meal  which  we  received.  When  we 
came  out  Holm  made  a  proposition  to  me  that  we  should  hide  ourselves  and  try 
to  get  away  from  the  guard  and  go  to  some  farm  to  obtain  something  to  eat. 
We  were  too  weak  to  run  off;  we  did  not  intend  to  run  off  or  "skedaddle,"  because 
we  could  not  walk  far;  but  we  wished  to  obtain  some  food  from  some  of  the 
farmers;  we  always  heard  that  the  farmers  around  there  were  good  Union  men, 
and  always  aided  our  prisoners  whenever  they  could  do  so  without  being  detected. 
Holm  and  I  hid  ourselves  in  a  very  large  tree  in  a  kind  of  a  mud-hole  among  the 
bushes,  and  remained  there  for  over  an  hour;  then  we  heard  the  dogs  bark.  An 
old  Indian  had  once  told  me  that  in  case  of  being  overtaken  by  bloodhounds  I 
should  pretend  to  be  dead  and  the  hounds  would  not  attack  me.  So  I  told  Holm 
to  remain  quiet  in  the  bushes  and  not  make  any  noise,  but  he  was  so  much  fright 
ened  by  the  dogs  that  he  tried  to  get  up  a  tree,  so  as  not  to  be  torn  to  pieces  by 
them.  While  he  was  trying  to  get  up  the  tree  the  dogs  came  up  and  caught  hold 
of  him  by  one  of  his  legs,  biting  quite  a  large  hole.  I  have  drawn  a  representa 
tion  of  that  scene.  [A  paper  being  shown  to  witness:]  That  is  the  drawing;  the 
man  climbing  the  tree  represents  Holm,  and  I  am  represented  lying  under  the 
tree.  That  represents  the  character  of  the  dog;  it  was  a  dog  looking  like  this. 
My  comrade  was  torn  by  the  dogs  very  badly;  we  were  brought  in  by  a  sergeant 
and  by  the  men  who  had  the  dogs.  At  that  time  they  had  only  two  dogs  out,  and 
one  of  them  captured  us.  They  brought  us  in  to  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters,  and 
one  of  the  sergeants — I  don't  remember  his  name — spoke  a  few  words  for  me  and 
the  other  man.  Captain  Wirz  did  not  punish  us,  but  sent  us  back  to  the  stockade 
and  gave  orders  to  the  sergeant  of  the  detachment  not  to  let  us  go  out  any  more. 

I  have  noticed  persons  with  ball  and  chain  attached  to  them.  I  saw  one  man 
in  the  stockade  in  the  month  of  August,  1864;  the  south  side  of  the  stockade  was 
where  I  saw  him  first.  He  was  insane,  for  I  asked  him  why  he  had  the  ball  and 
chain  on,  ard  he  told  me  that  he  was  Samson  and  they  wanted  to  try  his  strength. 
He  was  a  lunatic.  I  have  drawn  a  representation  of  that  man  as  confined  with 


346  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

the  ball  and  chain.     [A  drawing  being  shown  to  witness:]     That  is  my  representa 
tion. 

I  have  seen  a  great  many  men  shot  in  the  stockade  near  the  dead-line,  inside 
the  dead-line ;  I  mean  between  the  dead-line  and  the  inner  stockade,  having  crossed 
the  dead-line,  between  the  dead-line  and  the  inner  stockade.  There  was  a  man 
of  my  company  named  Le  Vois,  a  Frenchman,  who  was  robbed  in  Richmond  of 
his  gold  watch  and  chain  and  all  his  jewelry,  in  consequence  of  which  he  became 
insane.  A  few  days  after  coming  to  Andersonville,  he  went  inside  the  dead-line 
near  the  gate  of  the  north  side.  He  opened  his  shirt  and  called  on  the  guard 
there,  who  was  an  old  man,  to  shoot  him,  saying  that  he  wanted  to  be  killed.  The 
old  guard,  who  was  a  very  sensible  man,  told  him  to  go  out  of  the  dead-line,  and 
hallooed  to  some  of  his  comrades,  telling  them  to  call  him  out;  but  he  would  not 
come  out,  and  we  were  all  afraid  to  go  inside  the  dead-line  to  bring  him  out.  He 
went  to  the  next  guard,  and  the  next  guard  shot  him,  killing  him  instantly.  The 
guard  who  killed  him  was  a  young  boy,  about  15  or  16;  and  he  said  to  the  old 
guard,  "If  I  had  not  killed  the  Yankee  son  of  a  bitch,  I  would  have  reported  you 
to  Captain  Wirz  for  not  shooting  him;  but  I  am  satisfied;  I  now  get  my  fur 
lough."  This  occurred  in  the  month  of  August,  1864,  in  the  first  part  of  the 
month,  I  believe.  When  we  were  there  we  did  not  know  one  day  from  another,  and 
I  cannot  state  the  day  definitely.  I  know  positively  of  two  whom  I  myself  saw 
killed  on  the  dead-line  by  the  sentries;  one  was  Le  Vois,  and  another  was  a  cor 
poral  of  the  125th  New  York;  I  do  not  know  the  name  of  the  corporal.  Le  Vois 
belonged  to  Company  E,  39th  New  York  Veteran  Volunteers.  I  know  the  corporal 
that  was  killed  belonged  to  the  125th  New  York  Volunteers.  I  had  seen  him  before, 
because  his  regiment  belonged  to  my  brigade.  He  was  killed  while  reaching  under 
the  dead-line  for  clean  water;  I  do  not  know  to  what  company  he  belonged. 

TESTIMONY  OF   CHARLES  E.   TIBBLES. 

Charles  E.  Tibbies  testified  t1 

I  have  been  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  4th  Iowa 
Infantry.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville.  I  went  there  on  the  28th  of  March, 
1864,  and  escaped  on  the  7th  or  8th  of  September. 

We  were  taken  there  in  the  night.  It  was  very  dark  and  rainy.  The  captain 
ordered  us  to  report  at  the  same  place  at  9  o'clock  next  morning;  we  did  so;  we 
formed  in  line  in  two  ranks,  and  were  counted  off;  we  were  then  ordered  to  stand 
in  line  until  the  whole  of  the  prisoners  were  counted  off — all  the  men  in  the 
prison;  we  did  so.  We  were  in  line  about  two  hours.  I  think  there  were  only 
some  six  thousand  there  at  that  time.  I  presume  we  were  kept  there  until  all 
were  counted;  we  all  dispersed  at  the  same  time.  I  do  not  know  whether  Captain 
Wirz  had  been  engaged  in  counting  before  that  time.  I  know  Captain  Wirz 
personally.  The  next  morning  after  we  went  there,  a  man  walked  along  the 
front  of  our  line,  about  ten  feet  from  the  line.  Captain  Wirz  turned  around  and 
saw  him  and  caught  him  by  the  throat.  He  drew  his  pistol  and  told  him  he  would 
blow  his  damned  brains  out  if  he  did  not  keep  away.  I  also  saw  him  draw  his 
pistol  on  several  other  men.  I  never  saw  him  shoot  any  one. 

After  we  had  been  there  some  time  burying  the  dead — I  think  it  was  in  the 
latter  part  of  July — Captain  Wirz  issued  orders  to  us  that  we  would  not  be 

1  Record,  p.  294  et  seq. 


TESTIMONY  AS  TO  MURDER.  347 

allowed  the  mile  as  the  agreement  stated,  but  only  from  the  graveyard  to  our 
quarters,  and  we  were  guarded  every  night.  Thinking  that  as  he  broke  his  agree 
ment  I  was  not  bound  by  mine,  I  made  my  escape  on  the  7th  or  8th  of  September, 
and  was  recaptured  by  the  hounds  about  forty  miles  from  Andersonville.  We 
were  on  a  fence  when  the  hounds  came  up,  and  we  fought  them  off.  The  hound 
keeper  told  us  to  get  down,  and  we  said  we  would  not  until  he  would  call  the 
hounds  off.  They  said  they  had  orders  to  let  the  hounds  bite  us,  and  they  drew 
revolvers  and  said  they  would  shoot  us  if  we  would  not  come  down.  We  told 
them  to  shoot;  that  we  would  rather  die  anyhow  than  go  to  Andersonville.  [To 
the  Court :  ]  There  were  four  of  us.  There  were  six  rebels.  They  whipped  the 
hounds  off  and  we  got  down  and  were  marched  back  to  Andersonville.  On  arriv 
ing  at  Andersonville  we  were  brought  up  in  front  of  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters. 
The  houndkeeper  said,  "Here  are  these  Yankees,  Captain."  Said  he,  "I  will  attend 
to  them  in  a  minute,"  and  he  ordered  his  revolver  to  be  brought  to  him.  The 
orderly  brought  his  revolver.  After  he  made  his  revolver  ready,  he  came  out, 
holding  his  revolver  I  think,  in  his  right  hand — came  in  front  of  us,  looked  at  us 
a  little  bit,  and  said,  "Where  is  Crandall  f  referring  to  another  man  who  escaped 
the  same  day.  We  told  him  we  did  not  know  anything  about  him.  He  turned 
to  the  houndkeeper  and  said,  "If  you  will  bring  me  Bill  Crandall  I  will  give  you 
five  hundred  dollars  out  of  my  own  pocket.  I  will  learn  him  how  to  run  away." 
Then  turning  to  us,  he  said,  "You  young  sons  of  bitches  of  Yankees,  I'll  make  you 
smell  hell  before  night."  He  then,  turning  to  the  sergeant,  said,  "These  men's 
sentence  is  to  work  in  the  graveyard  hard  every  day,  on  half  rations,  to  be  sent 
into  the  stockade  at  night,  and  not  to  be  exchanged  when  the  other  prisoners  are 
exchanged.  Take  these  men  and  see  that  my  orders  are  fulfilled,  and  if  they  do 
not  work,  or  if  they  refuse  to  work,  put  them  in  on  top  of  the  dead  and  cover 
them  up,  and  if  you  don't  do  it,  I  will  serve  you  the  same  way."  The  sergeant 
took  us  to  the  graveyard,  where  we  worked  all  day.  That  night  we  were  taken 
back  and  put  in  the  stockade.  The  next  day  Captain  Wirz  came  to  us  and  said 
he  had  received  orders  to  send  us  all  away,  and  that  he  would  put  a  special 
guard  over  us.  He  started  us  to  Florence,  South  Carolina,  and  that  was  the  last 
I  saw  of  Captain  Wirz.  That  was  in  September.  This  man  Crandall  is  the  same 
who  testified  a  day  or  two  since — William  Crandall. 

TESTIMONY  OF  GEORGE  CONWAY. 

George  Conway  testified:1 

I  belonged  to  the  3d  New  York  Artillery;  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville 
from  the  night  of  the  17th  of  March  to  the  7th  of  September,  1864. 

I  saw  a  man  shot  one  day;  he  came  down  after  water;  no  one  was  allowed  to 
put  their  head  or  any  part  of  their  body  under  the  dead-line.  This  man  probably 
not  being  acquainted  with  the  rules,  as  many  of  them  were  not  who  came  in 
there  after  the  rules  were  read,  put  his  hand  in  under  the  dead-line  to  get  a  cup 
of  water  and  the  cup  dropped  from  his  hand;  he  put  his  hand  in  under  the  dead 
line  to  raise  it  up  again  and  Captain  Wirz  shot  him,  the  ball  taking  effect  in  his 
head.  He  died  almost  instantly.  [To  the  Court:]  Captain  Wirz  shot  him;  he 
was  standing  in  the  sentry-box.  This  occurred  about  the  time  the  raiders  were 
hung;  I  could  not  say  whether  it  was  before  or  after.  It  was  about  that  time. 

1  Record,  p.  323. 


348  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

I  am  certain  I  recognized  Captain  Wirz;  I  knew  him  well  at  that  time.  He  had 
a  revolver  in  his  hand,  I  believe.  Those  were  the  circumstances.  He  was  getting 
a  cup  of  water  out  of  the  brook  when  the  cup  dropped  from  his  hand.  I  do  not 
know  the  name  of  that  man;  I  never  saw  the  man  before  till  I  saw  him  that  time. 
The  man  died. 

TESTIMONY  OF  D.  S.   ORCOTT. 

D.  S.  Orcott  testified  t1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  in  the  llth  Pennsylvania 
Cavalry,  Company  L.  I  was  taken  prisoner  and  taken  to  Andersonville.  I  arrived 
there  on  the  22d  of  July,  1864. 

We  arrived  there  about  10  o'clock  on  the  22d  of  July,  1864,  and  were  marched 
up  before  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters,  and  were  kept  standing  there  in  the  hot 
sun  for  three  hours  without  any  water.  We  had  been  seven  days  on  the  road  and 
the  men  were  dry,  and  he  would  not  allow  us  to  have  any  water.  One  of  the  men 
stepped  out  of  the  ranks  and  asked  for  a  drink  of  water.  Captain  Wirz  told  the 
guard  not  to  allow  him  to  go  out.  He  told  the  guards  that  if  any  of  the  men 
attempted  to  leave  the  ranks  to  kill  them,  to  shoot  them.  One  man  stepped  out 
and  Captain  Wirz  came  along  and  said,  "Kill  the  damned  Yankee  son  of  a  bitch." 
The  guard  hit  the  man  over  the  head  with  his  gun  and  knocked  him  down.  His 
head  was  cut  open  and  he  lay  there;  he  could  not  speak.  I  could  not  tell  the 
appearance  of  the  wound.  I  was  not  close  enough  to  him,  but  I  could  see  the 
blood  flowing  freely.  The  man  did  not  die  while  I  was  there.  There  was  a  man 
of  my  regiment  who  got  sun-struck  and  was  left  out  there.  He  came  into  the 
stockade  afterwards,  and  he  told  us  that  the  man  died  two  or  three  hours  after 
we  left.  He  did  not  state  any  declarations  of  the  man  at  the  time  he  died.  I  do 
not  know  the  name  of  the  man  who  was  killed.  He  belonged  to  the  5th  Penn 
sylvania  Cavalry.  I  think  he  was  a  private.  The  date  this  occurred,  as  near  as 
I  can  tell,  was  the  22d  of  July. 

I  heard  the  prisoner,  Captain  Wirz,  say  something  about  giving  land  to  the 
Federal  prisoners  there.  While  we  were  standing  in  front  of  Captain  Wirz's 
headquarters,  a  wagon  came  out  with  a  load  of  dead  in  it,  and  one  of  the  boys 
spoke  up  and  asked  what  was  in  that  wagon.  Captain  Wirz  said  it  was  "Yankees 
going  out  to  get  their  land  warrants."  He  said,  "We  are  going  to  give  you  all 
land  warrants  of  the  same  kind,  six  feet  of  land,  or  land  enough  to  bury  you," 
or  something  like  that. 

TESTIMONY  OF  CHARLES  H.  RUSSELL. 

Charles  H.  Russell  testified  :2 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States.  I  was  orderly  sergeant, 
Company  E,  1st  Wisconsin  Cavalry,  at  the  time  of  my  capture,  on  the  9th  day 
of  May,  1864.  ...  I  was  sent  to  Andersonville,  where  I  arrived  on  the  27th  of 
May,  1864. 

After  I  had  been  in  the  stockade  about  two  weeks,  a  number  of  men  from  my 
regiment  who  were  there,  and  who  had  been  fed  on  sour  bread,  wanted  me  to 

1  Record,  p.   325. 

2  Record,  p.  343. 


TESTIMONY  AS  TO  MURDER.  349 

speak  to  Captain  Wirz  about  it,  and  to  see  if  lie  wouldn't  give  them  better  bread. 
I  took  a  sample  of  it  to  him  one  day,  when  he  came  in  the  stockade,  and  I  showed 
it  to  him.  He  turned  himself  and  said,  "I  don't  want  to  know  anything  about  it." 
I  insisted  on  his  looking  at  it.  It  was  all  moldy  and  sour.  That  made  him  angry. 
He  had  his  pistol  in  his  hand,  and  he  wheeled  around  and  presented  it  at  my 
head,  cocked.  There  was  a  big  crowd  around  there,  and  the  boys  began  to  sing 
out,  "Go  in  for  him."  He  got  scared,  and  wheeled  around  and  rode  out  of  camp. 
I  think  it  likely  he  would  have  shot  me  if  he  had  dared  to. 

I  have  seen  two  men  shot  myself  for  crossing  the  dead-line,  and  three  after 
they  were  shot. 

Q.     State  the  circumstances  of  the  shooting  of  those  whom  you  saw  shot. 

A.  I  saw  a  man  shot  at  the  creek  one  morning  in  June.  We  were  down  after 
water.  There  was  a  big  crowd  there.  The  ground  near  the  creek  was  very 
slippery,  where  the  boys  were  running  in  and  out  and  spilling  water.  A  fellow 
there,  who  looked  very  weak  and  sick,  tried  to  get  some  water,  but  he  slipped 
and  fell,  sticking  his  arm  under  the  dead-line — nothing  but  his  arm.  I  was 
within  six  feet  of  him  when  the  guard  raised  his  gun  and  fired  and  shot  him 
down.  The  man  did  not  speak  a  word  afterwards. 

I  do  not  know  that  man's  name  nor  his  regiment.  I  did  not  see  Captain  Wirz 
present  at  that  time.  About  the  20th  of  July,  I  think,  there  was  a  man  shot  on 
the  south  side,  at  a  little  spring  where  they  dug  a  hole  in  the  ground  about  eight 
feet  from  the  dead-line,  on  the  south  side  of  the  creek.  He  was  there  getting 
water,  and  there  was  quite  a  number  getting  water  at  the  same  time.  They  were 
crowding  around  to  see  who  would  get  the  water  first.  This  man  got  crowded 
outside  the  dead-line,  and  the  guard  fired  on  him  and  shot  him.  The  guard  stood 
on  the  first  post,  on  the  south  side  of  the  creek.  Captain  Wirz  came  along  shortly 
afterwards,  and  went  up  the  stand  where  the  sentry  was,  and  I  saw  him  shake 
hands  with  the  sentry.  Shortly  afterwards  the  sentry  went  down,  and  another 
soldier  took  his  place.  He  shook  hands  with  the  sentry  and  called  him  a  "bully 
fellow,"  or  something  of  that  sort.  I  heard  nothing  said  about  furloughs  at  that 
time.  At  one  time  I  was  detailed  to  go  out  and  get  some  wood.  There  was  a 
Confederate  soldier  who  made  it  a  practice  of  going  out  in  the  woods  where  the 
boys  went  for  wood,  and  trading  with  them  there,  out  of  the  sight  of  his  officers. 
He  said  that  there  was  an  order  out  that  they  would  get  furloughs  for  every 
Yankee  they  killed. 

TESTIMONY  OF  HUGH  R.  SNEE. 

Hugh  B,.  Snee  testified  r1 

I  was  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States— in  the  39th  Illinois  Regi 
ment.  I  was  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  about  five  months.  I  was  captured  May 
16,  1864,  and  I  made  my  escape  about  the  9th  of  September  following.  I  made 
my  escape  by  smuggling  myself  out  with  a  few  prisoners  who  were  to  be  exchanged 
on  special  exchange  arranged  between  General  Sherman  and  General  Hood.  When 
they  called  the  roll  of  these  men  who  were  to  be  exchanged,  it  was  after  dark ; 
that  time  being  chosen  on  account  of  the  heat,  as  men  would  faint  during  the 
day.  When  they  called  the  roll,  they  said  they  wanted  none  but  able-bodied 

1  Record,  p.  352. 


350  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

men.  After  I  got  out  I  fell  into  line.  Others  came  out  who  could  not  walk. 
There  were  two  men  belonging  to  a  western  regiment— I  think  one  belonging  to 
an  Iowa  regiment ;  I  am  not  certain  as  to  that ;  they  fainted  before  they  got  to  the 
brook  that  ran,  I  think,  between  Captain  Wirz's  headquarters  and  the  depot. 
They  fell  out  of  the  ranks,  and  the  guard  shoved  them  to  one  side.  A  man  ran 
back  and  wanted  to  know  why  they  were  out.  They  made  the  remark  that  they 
wished  to  get  out  of  prison.  The  man  said,  "I  will  help  you  out  damned  soon." 
We  were  hurrying  along  at  the  double-quick.  I  heard  six  discharges  from  a  pistol ; 
I  supposed  it  to  be  a  revolver,  and  I  heard  a  cry,  as  if  somebody  was  hurt. 
Presently  a  rebel  officer,  a  lieutenant  I  think,  came  along,  and  he  made  the  re 
mark  that  it  was  a  brutal  act.  Some  one  asked  who  did  it,  and  he  said  the  cap 
tain.  I  have  no  means  of  knowing  that  they  were  killed,  except  that  this  lieu 
tenant  said  that  only  one  of  them  was  killed.  He  said,  "One  of  them  is  dead." 
I  have  heard  Captain  Wirz's  voice  on  several  occasions.  I  cannot  say  positively 
if  the  voice  I  heard  at  that  time  had  the  accent  of  his  voice.  I  thought  at  that 
time  that  it  was  his  voice.  We  passed  him  soon  afterward,  perhaps  not  over 
fifteen  minutes.  He  was  sitting  in  his  chair  in  front  of  his  headquarters,  and 
General  Winder  was  sitting  not  a  great  distance  from  him.  I  suppose  it  was 
calculated  that  we  were  passing  in  review  before  them,  and  they  were  counting 
us.  We  were  ordered  to  march  in  particular  order  so  that  we  could  be  counted. 
That  is  all  I  know  about  that  particular  affair. 

TESTIMONY  OF  AMBROSE  HENMAN. 

Ambrose  Henman  testified  r1 

I  am  a  private  in  Company  L,  4th  United  States  Cavalry.  I  was  a  prisoner  at 
Andersonville  from  the  23d  of  April,  1864,  till  the  last  of  July,  1864.  I  saw  the 
prisoner  [Wirz]  there. 

I  saw  one  man  shot  after  I  was  there  nine  or  ten  days.  It  was  about  the  6th 
or  7th  of  May,  I  think,  at  the  northwest  corner  of  the  stockade.  The  man  put 
his  hand  under  the  dead-line  to  get  a  crumb  of  bread,  when  he  was  shot  by  the 
guard.  I  do  not  know  the  man's  name  or  regiment.  I  think  he  was  an  idiot,  a 
crazy  man. 

I  saw  a  man  shot  at  the  south  gate,  about  the  last  of  May,  1864.  The  man 
had  several  names — "Pretty  Polly,"  "Fortune  Teller,"  and  "Chickamauga."  Cap 
tain  Wirz  was  present  at  the  time  he  was  shot.  Pretty  Polly,  as  I  called  him, 
went  up  to  the  gate.  Wirz  was  at  the  wicket-gate,  having  the  gate  open.  Pretty 
Polly  asked  him  to  let  him  out.  Captain  Wirz  drew  his  revolver  and  told  him 
that  he  could  not  get  out.  Pretty  Polly  seemed  to  be  afraid  of  the  raiders  inside, 
as  they  called  them.  Wirz  drove  him  back  from  the  dead-line  and  closed  the  gate 
and  walked  out.  Chickamauga  walked  inside  the  dead-line  and  sat  down,  saying 
he  would  rather  be  shot  by  their  men  than  be  killed  by  our  own  men.  Wirz 
ordered  the  sentinel  to  shoot  him.  The  sentinel  hesitated,  and  before  the  sentinel 
fired  Wirz  went  up  to  the  sentry-box  with  his  revolver  drawn.  But  before  he  got 
there  the  sentry  fired  at  the  man  and  shot  him  down,  the  ball  striking  him  in  the 
chin  and  passing  through  the  breast.  I  heard  nothing  about  furloughs.  I  spoke 
to  Captain  Wirz  at  the  time,  after  the  man  was  shot,  and  asked  the  privilege  of 

1  Record,  p.  372. 


TESTIMONY  AS  TO  MUEDER.  351 

taking  him  from  the  dead-line.     He  gave  me  permission,  telling  me  to  take  him 
and  go  to  hell  with  him. 

i  picked  him  up  and  carried  him  back  about  four  rods  from  the  dead-line. 
He  lay  down  there  and  died.  The  men  crowded  around  there  so  much  to  see 
him,  that  Captain  Wirz  ordered  the  sentinel  to  fire  again.  I  saw  Captain  Wirz 
up  in  the  sentry-box.  I  did  not  see  him  before  he  went  to  the  sentry-box.  I 
could  not  see  over  the  stockade.  I  saw  him  at  the  gate  before  the  man  was  shot. 
He  drew  his  revolver  and  ordered  him  back.  There  was  some  crowd.  Captain 
Wirz  went  to  the  sentry-box.  He  gave  orders  to  the  sentinel  before  he  went  up 
to  shoot  "the  Yankee  son  of  a  bitch."  The  sentinel  was  only  a  few  feet  from 
where  the  crowd  stood. 

TESTIMONY  OF  GEORGE  W.   GRAY. 

George  W.  Gray  testified  i1 

I  am  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States;  in  the  7th  Indiana  Cavalry, 
Company  B. 

Q.  How  long  have  you  been  in  the  service? 

A.  In  my  last  term  two  years  and  one  month;  I  was  taken  to  Andersonville 
on  the  10th  of  June,  1864,  and  remained  there  until  November. 

About  the  last  of  August  I  made  my  escape  from  Andersonville,  and  was  over 
taken  by  a  lot  of  hounds;  before  the  catch-dog  could  get  at  me  I  took  a  tree. 
After  I  took  the  tree  the  hounds  circled  around  and  barked  until  the  catch-dog 
came  up;  when  the  catch-dog  came  up  some  Johnnies  came  up  also,  and  de 
manded  that  I  should  come  down.  I  told  them  to  tie  that  dog  and  that  I  would 
come  down,  but  not  before.  They  said  they  would  tie  one  of  the  other  dogs. 
I  said  no,  that  they  should  tie  up  the  catch-dog;  they  tied  him  and  I  came  down. 
The  hounds  did  not  touch  me.  I  knew  they  would  not — for  the  reason  that  I 
used  to  catch  niggers  myself  with  them,  and  so  knew  all  about  them.  I  was 
brought  back  to  Andersonville  prison  and  taken  to  Wirz's  quarters.  I  was  ordered 
by  him  to  be  put  in  the  stocks,  where  I  remained  for  four  days,  with  my  feet 
placed  in  a  block  and  another  lever  placed  over  my  legs,  with  my  arms  thrown 
back,  and  a  chain  running  across  my  arms.  I  remained  four  days  there  in  the 
sun;  that  was  my  punishment  for  trying  to  get  away  from  the  prison.  At  the 
same  time  a  young  man  was  placed  in  the  stocks — the  third  man  from  me.  He 
died  there.  He  was  a  little  sick  when  he  went  in,  and  he  died  there.  I  do  not 
know  his  name;  if  I  heard  it,  I  have  forgotten  it.  This  occurred  about  the 
last  of  August  or  the  first  of  September,  1864.  I  am  certain  he  died.  The 
negroes  took  him  out  of  the  stocks  after  he  was  dead,  threw  him  into  the  wagon, 
and  hauled  him  away. 

Q.  Do  you  know  anything  about  the  prisoner  [Wirz]  having  shot  a  prisoner  of 
war  there  at  any  time. 

A.  He  shot  a  young  fellow  named  William  Stewart,  a  private  belonging  to 
the  9th  Minnesota  Infantry.  He  and  I  went  out  of  the  stockade  with  a  dead 
body,  and  after  laying  the  dead  body  in  the  dead-house  Captain  Wirz  rode  up 
to  us  and  asked  by  what  authority  we  were  out  there  or  what  we  were  doing 
there.  Stewart  said  we  were  there  by  proper  authority.  Wirz  said  no  more, 

1  Record,  p.  397  et  seq. 


352  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

but  drew  a  revolver  and  shot  the  man.  After  he  was  killed  the  guard  took  from 
the  body  about  twenty  or  thirty  dollars,  and  Wirz  took  the  money  from  the  guard 
and  rode  off,  telling  the  guard  to  take  me  to  prison. 

Q.  Are  you  sure  about  that? 

A.  If  I  was  not  I  would  not  speak  it. 

Q.  By  whose  orders  did  you  come  out  with  the  dead  body? 

A.  It  was  my  determination — I  don't  know  whether  it  was  Stewart's  or  not — 
to  get  away  again.  For  that  reason  we  went  out.  We  begged  for  the  dead  body. 

Q.  Do  you  know  whether  that  was  the  time  that  Lieutenant  Davis  had  something 
to  do  with  the  prison? 

A.  I  recollect  now  that  Lieutenant  Davis  ordered  the  sergeants  of  each  detach 
ment  to  detail  men  to  carry  out  of  the  stockade  the  dead  bodies  of  men  belonging 
to  that  detachment. 

Q.  State  what  Captain  Wirz  had  in  his  hand  when  he  shot  that  soldier. 

A.  He  had  a  revolver;  whether  a  navy  pistol  or  not  I  don't  know;  it  was  a 
large  pistol. 

Q.  How  near  was  he  to  him? 

A.  About  eight  feet  from  him,  I  think. 

Q.  Where  did  the  ball  take  effect  in  your  comrade? 

A.  In  the  breast.     He  died  right  there  where  he  was  shot. 

Q.  Were  you  at  the  time  attempting  to  make  your  escape? 

A.  No,  sir;  but  it  was  my  intention  if  I  could,  to  do  so.  I  was  not  attempting 
it  at  that  time,  nor  was  Stewart. 

Q.  How  far  were  you  from  the  dead-house? 

A.  About  fifty  yards — about  half  the  distance  from  the  stockade  to  the  dead- 
house;  a  little  off  and  to  one  side  of  it. 

Q.  You  do  not  know  whether  Lieutenant  Davis  had  a  partial  command  there? 

A.  I  think  that  in  September  Captain  Wirz  was  relieved  temporarily  by  Lieu 
tenant  Davis  on  account  of  ill  health,  about  two  weeks,  probably. 

Q.  Of  the  fact  of  Wirz  committing  this  particular  offense,  you  are  certain? 

A.  I  am,  sir. 

Q.  Did  you  state  the  time  when  Stewart  was  shot? 

A.  It  was  about  the  middle  of  September,  after  I  got  out  of  the  stocks. 

Q.  When  testifying  with  reference  to  the  man  on  the  white  horse,  you  said 
something  about  not  being  able  to  identify  him;  had  you  any  difficulty  after 
wards  in  identifying  Captain  Wirz? 

A.  The  first  time  I  knew  such  a  man  in  the  prison,  I  heard  Lieutenant  Davis 
call  the  name  at  the  gate.  He  said,  "Captain  Wirz,  come  down  this  way."  I 
looked  at  the  man  and  asked  the  boys  if  it  was  not  the  commander  of  the  Ander- 
sonville  prison. 

[The  Judge  Advocate  called  upon  the  prisoner  to  stand  up  for  identification. 
The  prisoner,  who  was  lying  on  a  lounge,  partly  raised  himself,  turning  his  face 
to  the  witness.] 

Q.  Do  you  recognize  that  man  as  the  person  who  shot  your  comrade? 

A.  That  is  the  man. 

[The  prisoner  attempted  to  say  something  in  contradiction  of  the  witness,  but 
was  not  permitted  by  the  court.  The  Judge  Advocate  requested  the  prisoner  to 


TESTIMONY    AS    TO    MURDER.  353 

stand  up  on  his  feet.  The  prisoner  having  complied  with  the  Judge  Advocate's 
request,  the  witness  looked  at  him  and  said,  "I  think  that  is  the  man."] 

Q.  The  person  whom  you  have  been  talking  about,  you  were  afterwards  in  the 
habit  of  recognizing  in  the  prison  as  Captain  Wirz? 

A.  Yes. 

Q.  Do  you  recollect  whether  the  man  who  shot  your  comrade  had  a  foreign 
accent  I 

A.  I  took  him  to  be  a  German  or  a  foreigner  by  his  talk,  for  this  reason: 
When  I  was  put  in  the  stocks  he  said  to  me,  "Cott  tarn  you,  I  fix  you."  For  that 
reason  I  took  him  to  be  a  foreigner  or  a  Dutchman. 

I  knew  a  young  man  being  brought  to  the  stockade  after  being  caught  by  the 
hounds.  I  went  out  to  see  him  and  asked  him  what  was  the  matter.  He  told 
me  he  was  caught  by  bloodhounds  and  torn  very  badly.  Part  of  his  cheek 
was  torn  off,  and  his  arms  and  hands  and  legs  gnawed  up  so  that  the  man  only 
lived  some  twenty-four  hours  after  he  came  into  the  stockade.  That  was  in 
October,  1864,  I  think.  I  do  not  know  the  date  exactly  when  I  left  Andersonville. 
I  got  to  Savannah,  Georgia,  in  December,  1864.  I  do  not  know  the  name  of  the 
man  who  was  bitten  by  the  dogs  and  who  died  in  the  stockade. 

1  saw  an  officer  riding  on  a  white  horse  the  day  I  arrived  at  Andersonville.  I 
believe  it  was  the  same  day.  We  got  there,  I  think,  on  the  ten  o'clock  train,  and  I 
think  it  was  about  the  middle  of  the  day.  I  saw  that  man  afterwards.  I  could 
not  at  that  time  tell  whether  it  was  Captain  Wirz  or  not,  because  I  never  had 
heard  his  name.  I  will  not  be  positive  whether  it  was  Captain  Wirz  at  'that  time 
or  not.  I  knew  him  about  two  weeks  after  I  went  to  the  prison.  I  saw  him  when 
I  first  went  there,  at  the  prison-gate.  The  next  place  I  saw  him  was  inside  the 
stockade,  at  the  time  Lieutenant  Davis  called  him  to  one  side  and  took  him  the 
other  road.  I  cannot  say  whether  it  was  or  not  the  same  man  whom  I  first  saw 
on  the  gray  horse.  I  would  not  wish  to  say. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

KESUM:&  OP  THE  FOREGOING  CHAPTERS — SOME  COMMENT  UPON  AND  DEDUCTIONS 
FROM  THE  EVIDENCE — MORTUARY  STATISTICS — JOHNSON'S  ISLAND  AND  ANDER- 
SONVILLE  COMPARED — TABLE  OF  DEATHS  BY  MONTHS — NUMBER  OF  DEAD  AT 
ANDERSONVILLE,  13,171 — DEATHS  IN  TWENTY-FIVE  FEDERAL  PRISONS  IN  1864 
COMPARED  WITH  ANDERSONVILLE — STOCKADE  AND  ITS  TERRORS  DESCRIBED — 
CONDITION  OF  PRISONERS  KNOWN  AT  EICHMOND — HOSPITAL  AND  PRISON  CO 
ORDINATED  TO  DESTROY  LIFE — THE  CONSPIRACY — CHARGE  OF  MURDER — PHOTO 
GRAPH  OF  JOHNSON'S  ISLAND  PRISON — STATEMENT  OF  SOLDIERS  ON  DUTY 
THERE  AND  AT  FORT  DELEWARE  PRISON. 

OF  the  participants  in  the  trial  of  Captain  Wirz,  two  only  are 
living — General  J.  H.  Stibbs,  one  of  the  judges,  now  residing 
in  Chicago,  and  the  writer. 

In  vindication  of  his  verdict,  General  Stibbs  has  recently,  in  an 
address,  given  some  interesting  details  of  the  trial.  As  for  myself,  I 
am  performing  not  only  what  I  regard  as  a  duty  I  owe  to  the  govern 
ment  and  to  the  members  of  the  court,  the  justness  of  whose  findings 
is  now  being  assailed,  but  I  am  giving  the  true  story  of  the  darkest 
page  of  the  Rebellion,  and  I  am  seeking  to  make  abortive  and  innocuous 
the  misleading  and  altogether  unwarranted  implications  arising  from 
the  erection  of  a  monument  to  the  memory  of  Wirz,  and  to  refute  the 
charges  and  statements  placed  indelibly  upon  that  monument. 

The  reader  will  have  discovered  that  the  evidence  is  first  directed 
to  the  charge  of  conspiracy,  which  had  for  its  purpose,  in  violation 
of  the  laws  of  war,  the  weakening  of  the  Federal  armies  by  the  various 
means  specified, — by  starving  large  numbers  to  death,  and  rendering 
unfit  for  service  such  as  fortunately  survived  the  ordeal  of  their  treat 
ment;  by  crowding  them  into  insufficient  and  unwholesome  quarters, 
exposed  to  the  changing  temperatures  of  heat  and  cold,  unprovided 
with  any  kind  of  shelter  or  clothing;  by  depriving  them  in  these  con 
gested  quarters  of  sufficient  pure  water  to  drink,  or  even  water  with 
which  to  bathe  or  perform  the  most  ordinary  offices  necessary  to  per 
sonal  cleanliness ;  by  leaving  large  numbers  of  the  sick  without  medical 
attendance,  who  died  in  their  quarters  from  sheer  neglect;  and  by 
failing  to  exercise  any  sort  of  police  control  over  this  turbulent  and 
despairing  mass  of  human  beings,  encouraged  thereby  to  rob  and  prey 
upon  each  other  in  their  desperate  struggle  for  existence. 


EESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  355 

Is  it  necessary  to  look  beyond  the  testimony  and  reports  given  and 
made  by  rebel  officers  and  soldiers  for  support  of  the  findings  of  the 
court?  Turn  back  and  read  what  Colonel  Chandler  reported  and 
testified  to ;  read  again  the  awful  picture  drawn  by  Dr.  Jones  and  the 
testimony  of  the  five  or  six  rebel  surgeons  on  duty  there ;  read  what 
officers  and  soldiers  stationed  there  said  of  the  prison  and  its  horrors. 
Is  it  necessary  to  look  to  the  testimony  of  the  sufferers  themselves  ? 

But  we  may  look  to  their  testimony ;  and,  looking  there,  what  do  we 
see?  A  picture  of  such  helpless,  hopeless  misery  and  suffering  as. 
would  wring  the  most  callous  heart  and  should  bring  the  blush  of 
shame  to  those  who  seek  to  immortalize  one  of  the  arch  perpetrators 
of  this  monstrous  iniquity. 

THE  STOCKADE. 

Notice  next  with  what  ingenuity  the  prison  was  planned  and  pre 
pared.  A  sluggish  stream  coursed  through  the  enclosure.  Above  was 
located  the  cook-house,  from  which  the  garbage,  grease,  and  offal  were 
cast  into  this  stream  to  find  their  way  down  into  the  prison.  Still 
farther  above  were  located  the  camps  for  the  soldiers  constituting  the 
prison  guard.  Near  the  stream  were  located  the  army  sinks  for  the 
use  of  the  soldiers,  and  into  it  the  drainage  from  the  camps  passed, 
contaminating  the  water  in  its  course  through  the  prison.  And  now 
turn  to  the  evidence,  documentary  and  oral,  from  rebel  sources  and 
from  the  lips  of  the  surviving  Union  soldiers,  and  note  the  picture  of 
the  morass  into  and  through  which  the  prisoners  had  to  wade  to  dip 
up  the  scant  and  infected  water  they  were  to  use.  The  testimony  is 
recorded;  it  cannot  be  blotted  out;  much  of  it  cannot  with  propriety 
be  here  repeated.  Indeed,  its  publication  as  part  of  this  record  is 
justified,  and  to  be  tolerated  in  print  only  because  it  came  from  the 
lips  of  living  witnesses  who  were  sworn  to  tell  the  whole  truth. 

Originally  built  with  scanty  space  for  ten  thousand  prisoners,  the 
stockade  was  denuded  of  all  timber  which  might  have  been  some  pro 
tection  from  the  sun's  rays  or  could  have  been  made  use  of  for  fire 
wood,  and  was  soon  filled  with  double  its  estimated  capacity.  Instead 
of  enlarging  it  to  increase  its  habitability,  it  was  contracted  in  size 
by  the  establishment  of  a  dead-line  twenty  feet  from  the  walls  of  the 
stockade  and  completely  around  its  interior.  This  dead-line  became 
the  scene  of  frequent  slaughter  of  the  occupants  of  the  prison,  not 
one  of  whom  was  shown  to  have  encroached  upon  it  with  any  purpose 
to  reach  the  stockade  wall  or  effect  his  escape.  It  may  be  truthfully 


356  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

said  of  the  killings  near  or  on  this  fatal  dead-line,  which  occurred 
almost  daily,  that  they  were,  all  of  them,  wanton  and  reckless  sacri 
fices;  and  be  it  noted,  in  no  single  instance  was  a  guard  ever  rebuked, 
much  less  tried,  for  his  crime.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  evidence 
tending  to  show  that  guards  were  rewarded  for  killing  prisoners  at 
the  dead-line. 

Mr.  Davis  in  his  Belford  articles  refers  to  Dr.  Jones  as  eminent  in 
his  profession  and  of  great  learning  and  probity.  I  have  no  hesitation 
in  quoting  him,  for  his  testimony  is  not  to  be  gainsaid.  Nor  can  we 
discredit  other  of  the  rebel  surgeons  whose  testimony  is  before  us. 

Dr.  G.  G.  Roy  was  asked  this  question:  "What  was  the  condition 
of  the  men  sent  from  the  stockade  to  the  hospital?  Describe  their 
appearance  and  condition."  He  replied:  "They  presented  the  most 
horrible  spectacle  of  human  suffering  that  I  ever  saw  in  my  life.  A 
good  many  were  suffering  from  scurvy  and  other  diseases;  a  good 
many  were  naked;  a  large  majority  barefooted;  a  good  many  without 
hats.  Their  condition  generally  was  indescribable.  I  attributed  this 
condition  to  long  confinement,  want  of  necessaries  and  comforts  of 
life,  and  all  those  causes  which  are  calculated  to  produce  that  condi 
tion  of  the  system  where  there  is  just  vitality  enough  to  permit  one 
to  live.  The  prisoners  were  too  densely  crowded ;  there  was  no  shelter 
except  such  as  they  constructed  themselves,  which  was  very  insuf 
ficient.  A  good  many  were  in  holes  in  the  earth,  with  their  blankets 
thrown  over  poles;  some  were  in  tents  constructed  by  their  own  in 
genuity,  and  with  just  such  accommodations  as  their  own  ingenuity 
permitted  them  to  contrive.  There  were,  you  may  say,  no  accommoda 
tions  made  for  them  in  the  stockade." 

Upon  their  arrival,  the  prisoners  were  paraded  in  front  of  Wirz's 
quarters  and  counted  off  in  detachments  consisting  of  two  hundred 
and  seventy  men,  divided  into  three  squads  of  ninety,  and  a  prisoner 
designated  as  sergeant  of  each  ninety.  A  number  was  given  each  de 
tachment,  and  the  members  of  the  nineties  were  enrolled  as  belonging 
to  the  detachment  thus  constituted.  They  were  thus  turned  into  the 
stockade  to  shift  for  themselves,  but  were  required  to  answer  to  their 
names  at  roll-call  each  day  in  their  respective  nineties. 

One  of  the  indefensible  means  resorted  to  in  securing  a  daily  census 
of  the  prison  was  to  punish  the  squad  of  ninety  by  stopping  their 
rations  unless  all  were  accounted  for  at  roll-call.  In  that  mass  of 
thirty-odd  thousand,  if  one  man  could  not  be  found,  or  if,  unknown  to 
his  comrades,  he  had  died  and  was  unaccounted  for,  the  remaining 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  RHODE  ISLAND. 


358  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

eighty-nine  suffered  the  penalty,  and  the  evidence  was  that  this  hap 
pened  frequently.  There  was  evidence  that  on  several  different  days 
— notably  on  the  3d  or  4th  of  July,  1864 — the  entire  prison  was  de 
prived  of  rations.  Witnesses  testified  to  the  suffering  which  resulted 
from  the  great  irregularity  as  to  time  of  issuing  rations.  Often  the 
rations  did  not  reach  the  prisoners  until  late  in  the  day,  and  were 
then  but  sufficient  to  partly  allay  hunger,  and  left  nothing  until 
another  day's  rations  came. 

TERRORS  OF  THE  PRISON  PEN. 

The  terrors  of  the  prison  pen  were  greatly  augmented  by  the  utter 
lack  of  police  control.  There  was  in  fact  none  whatever,  except  such 
as  the  prisoners  themselves  could  enforce.  Robbery  of  the  weak  by 
the  stronger  was  common;  the  dying  saw  around  them  eager,  wolfish 
faces  of  men  ready  to  fight  over  their  scanty  clothing;  the  more  for 
tunate  possessors  of  a  well  levied  heavy  toll  for  a  drink  of  water 
begged  by  some  thirsty  fellow-prisoner.  Men  fought  like  perishing 
animals  for  meat  bones  or  crusts  of  bread ;  they  crawled  with  crippled 
limbs,  drawn  up  by  scurvy,  with  cup  in  teeth,  to  the  slimy  creek  for 
water ;  they  burrowed  in  the  ground  like  rodents  of  the  plain  to  escape 
the  scorching  rays  of  summer  and  the  cold  of  winter.  The  appeal  to 
brutish  instincts  was  so  strong  and  insistent  that  the  law  of  the 
jungle  became  the  law  of  the  prison  with  many,  and  there  were  enacted 
tragedies  such  as  Dr.  Jones  described,  where  murder  was  stealthily 
committed  for  the  miserably  inadequate  and  wholly  selfish  motive  of 
possessing  the  ragged  garments  of  the  victims. 

This  lack  of  police  supervision  brought  its  harvest  of  suffering  and 
death  in  many  ways,  and  its  effect  reached  a  climax  in  a  manner  for 
ever  to  condemn  the  prison  management,  by  the  prisoners  taking  the 
law  into  their  own  hands,  and  by  drumhead  court-martial  trying, 
condemning,  and  executing  on  the  gallows  six  of  the  supposedly  most 
desperate  characters.  How  can  the  prison  authorities  or  their  apolo 
gists  ever  explain  or  justify  a  condition  such  as  made  this  violent 
proceeding  seem  to  the  prisoners  to  be  a  necessity  for  self-protection? 
Who  shall  say  that  when  Wirz  refused  to  hear  their  plea  for  mercy 
and  coldly  turned  these  unhappy  wretches  over  to  a  tribunal  lacking 
every  semblance  of  a  judicial  investigation,  with  their  fates  sealed, 
that  he  does  not  stand  guilty  before  God  and  man  1  Let  us  not  for  a 
moment  hold  the  members  of  this  improvised  court  responsible  for 
resorting  to  means  desperate  and  cruel  to  bring  about  some  sort  of 


EESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  359 

safety  to  person  in  the  prison.  Necessity  drove  them  to  it ;  but  Winder 
and  Wirz  and  the  prison  management  created  the  necessity. 

Father  Whelan,  whose  testimony  was  relied  on  as  tending  to  ex 
culpate  the  accused  in  some  degree,  was  pointedly  asked  if  he  was 
willing  to  testify  that  prisoners  did  not  die  from  starvation,  and  he 
replied  that  he  could  not  do  so,  and  that,  being  unable  to  eat  the 
rations  given  them,  many  must  have  died  from  starvation. 

If  it  were  known  to  the  prison  authorities  that  because  of  the  quantity 
of  the  rations,  or  because  of  their  quality,  prisoners,  even  in  small 
numbers,  were  dying  of  starvation, — and  that  it  was  known  to  them  is 
established  to  a  moral  certainty ,— every  consideration  of  humanity  as 
well  as  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare  demanded  of  the  enemy  that  such 
condition  should  be  speedily  remedied.  But  it  was  not  remedied,  nor 
was  it  attempted  to  be  remedied.  On  the  contrary,  the  conditions  so 
fatal  were  allowed  to  increase,  and  with  this  increase  the  death-roll 
was  swollen  to  frightful  proportions.  That  this  was  a  result  reason 
ably  to  be  expected  can  admit  of  no  doubt,  for  not  only  the  prison 
records  proclaimed  it,  but  the  more  humane  and  conscientious  officers 
on  duty  at  the  prison  forewarned  the  prison  authorities  that  such 
result  was  inevitable  unless  remedial  measures  pointed  out  by  them 
were  adopted. 

If  a  guardian  charged  with  the  duty  to  feed  his  ward  deliberately 
starves  him  to  death,  it  is  murder.  In  time  of  war  captive  prisoners 
become  wards  of  the  enemy.  Except  when  forced  to  do  otherwise 
in  retaliation, — and  only  in  retaliation, — prisoners  of  war  are  entitled 
to  such  humane  treatment  as  may  be  consistent  with  their  safe-keeping 
and  as  may  be  reasonably  within  the  power  of  the  enemy  to  give.  It 
is  never  allowable  to  kill  them  outright,  when  once  captured,  much 
less  to  subject  them  to  slow  death  by  torture  or  starvation.  When  I 
say  that  this  rule  of  conduct  in  time  of  war  was  flagrantly  violated 
at  Andersonville,  I  state  not  alone  a  conclusion  or  inference  from  the 
evidence,  but  I  state  what  was  the  opinion,  given  under  oath,  of  the 
rebel  surgeons  on  duty  there.  If  it  be  cruel,  if  it  be  monstrous  to 
lay  so  atrocious  a  crime  at  the  doors  of  these  prison  authorities,  I  but 
repeat  the  sworn  testimony  of  men  who  were  there,  and  who  speak 
from  personal  observation  and  personal  experience. 

Acting  Assistant  Surgeon  J.  C.  Bates,  who  had  been  a  medical  prac 
titioner  since  1850,  testified :  "I  feel  myself  safe  in  saying  that  seventy- 
five  per  cent  of  those  who  died  might  have  been  saved  had  those  unfor 
tunate  men  been  properly  cared  for  as  to  food,  clothing,  bedding,  etc." 


360  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

Yattel,  who  wrote  upon  international  law  over  a  century  and  a 
half  ago,  said:  "As  soon  as  your  enemy  has  laid  down  his  arms  and 
surrendered  his  person,  you  have  no  longer  any  right  over  his  life, 
unless  he  should  give  you  such  right  by  some  new  attempt,  or  had 
before  committed  against  you  such  a  crime  deserving  death.  Pris 
oners  of  war  may  be  secured,  but  cannot  be  made  slaves,  unless  for 
personal  guilt  which  deserves  death,  nor  be  slain,  unless  we  be  per 
fectly  assured  that  our  safety  demands  such  a  sacrifice." 

What  shall  be  said  of  the  scores  shot  at  the  dead-line,  some  of  them 
but  reaching  across  it  for  a  cup  of  water  or  piece  of  bread ;  what  of 
those  who  died  from  being  put  in  the  stocks  and  chain-gang  or  pur 
sued  by  the  dogs;  and  what  of  the  thousands  who  perished  in  the 
stockade  and  hospital  for  want  of  being  properly  cared  for  ? 

CONDITIONS  KNOWN  AT  RICHMOND. 

It  does  not  admit  of  a  moral  doubt  that  the  conditions  at  Anderson- 
ville  were  well  known  to  many  of  the  responsible  heads  of  the  rebel 
government  at  Richmond  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  that 
prison,  with  all  its  accumulating  horrors;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that 
they  were  known  to  the  Confederate  President.  It  was  generally 
known  throughout  Georgia,  and  was  the  subject  of  newspaper  com 
ment.  It  was  reported  over  and  over  again  to  the  authorities  at  Rich 
mond.  Let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  Mr.  Davis  defends  the  selection 
of  Andersonville  as  the  site  for  this  prison  on  the  ground  that  it  was 
in  "a  productive  farming  country;  had  never  been  devastated  by  the 
enemy;  was  well  watered;  was  near  Americus,  a  central  depot  for 
collecting  the  tax  in  kind  and  purchasing  provisions  for  our  armies."  I 

Will  not  the  inquiry  suggest  itself  to  the  intelligent  reader  as  to 
why  these  facilities  were  not  taken  advantage  of  to  safeguard  the 
comfort  and  provide  subsistence  supplies  for  the  prisoners  sent  to  this 
land  of  plenty? 

There  is  no  escape  from  the  conclusion  that  there  was  design  in 
withholding  from  the  prisoners  the  supplies  that  abounded  and  were 
available.  It  may  be  hard  for  us  at  this  distance  of  time,  confronted 
too  by  evidences  that  a  feeling  of  good-will  exists  between  the  North 
and  the  South,  and  especially  between  the  surviving  soldiers  of  the 
two  armies,  to  conceive  the  disclosures  in  this  volume  to  have  a  pos 
sible  basis  of  truth.  But  however  abhorrent,  however  humiliating  the 
thought,  however  dark  and  repelling  the  shadow  cast  over  great  names, 


1  Bel ford  Magazine,  January,  1890. 


EESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  361 

the  truth  stands  recorded  in  these  pages,  and  the  horrors  of  Ander- 
sonville  will  forever  remain  one  of  the  most  tragic  chapters  in  a  most 
wicked  and  causeless  rebellion  against  the  best  government  that  man 
has  ever  instituted. 

THE   HOSPITAL. 

But  let  us  pass  out  of  this  horrible  human  corral,  where  men  died 
by  inches  under  slow  processes  of  starvation  and  lost  all  moral  sense 
and  moral  responsibility,  many  of  them  demented,  in  their  effort  to 
sustain  life, — let  us  visit  the  hospital,  in  the  hope  of  finding  condi 
tions  ameliorated.  What  do  we  find  there  ? 

There  was  a  small  stream  running  across  one  corner  of  the  hospital 
stockade,  the  upper  portion  of  which  was  used  by  the  patients  for 
washing,  and  the  lower  portion  as  a  sink  (privy).  Let  Surgeon  Jones 
speak : 

This  part  of  the  stream  is  a  semi-fluid  of  human  excrement,  and  offal  and  filth 
of  all  kinds.  This  immense  cess-pool  fermenting  beneath  the  hot  sun  emitted  an 
overpowering  stench.  North  of  the  hospital  grounds  the  stream  which  flows 
through  the  stockade  pursues  its  sluggish  and  filthy  course.  The  exhalations  from 
the  swamp,  which  is  loaded  with  the  excrement  of  the  prisoners  confined  in  the 
stockade,  exert  their  deleterious  influences  on  the  inmates  of  the  hospital. 

It  would  seem  that  the  prison  pen  and  the  hospital  were  so  located, 
relatively,  as  to  co-ordinate  in  the  work  of  destruction  to  the  occupants ; 
each  was  to  contribute  its  share  to  the  death-roll.  Look  at  the  picture 
of  the  hospital  as  drawn  by  Dr.  Jones: 

The  patients  and  attendants  [the  attendants  were  prisoners],  near  two  thou 
sand,  are  crowded  and  but  poorly  supplied  with  old  and  ragged  tents;  a  large 
number  without  any  bunks  in  the  tents  lay  upon  the  ground,  ofttimes  without 
even  a  blanket.  No  beds  of  straw  appear  to  have  been  furnished.  The  tents 
extend  to  within  a  few  yards  of  the  small  stream,  which  was  used  as  a  privy 
and  loaded  with  excrement.  I  observed  a  large  pile  of  corn  bread,  bones,  and 
filth  of  all  kinds,  thirty  feet  in  diameter  and  several  feet  in  height,  swarming 
with  myriads  of  flies,  in  a  vacant  space  near  the  pots  used  for  cooking.  Millions 
of  flies  swarmed  over  everything  and  covered  the  faces  of  the  sleeping  patients, 
crawled  down  their  open  mouths,  and  deposited  their  maggots  upon  the  gan 
grenous  wounds  of  the  living  and  mouths  of  the  dead.  Mosquitoes  in  great 
numbers  also  infested  the  tents,  and  many  of  the  patients  were  so  stung  by  these 
pestiferous  insects  that  they  resembled  those  suffering  from  a  slight  attack  of 
the  measles.  The  police  and  hygiene  of  the  hospital  were  defective  in  the  extreme. 
Many  of  the  sick  were  literally  incrusted  with  dirt  and  filth  and  covered  with 
vermin. 

When  a  gangrene  wound  needed  washing,  the  limb  was  thrust  out  a  little  from 
the  blanket  or  board  or  rag  upon  which  the  patient  was  lying  and  water  poured 
over  it,  and  all  the  putrescent  matter  allowed  to  soak  into  the  ground-floor  of 


362  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

the  tent.  I  saw  the  most  filthy  rags,  which  had  been  applied  several  times  and 
imperfectly  washed,  used  in  dressing  recent  wounds.  Where  hospital  gangrene 
was  prevailing,  it  was  almost  impossible  for  any  wounds  to  escape  contagion 
under  the  circumstances. 

This  was  the  condition  existing  as  late  as  in  the  middle  of  September, 
six  months  after  the  prison  was  established.  All  this  time  the  Great 
Reaper  was  inexorably  gathering  in  his  toll  of  dead  American  soldiers ; 
all  this  time  the  boast  of  Wirz,  that  he  was  performing  the  service 
of  the  generals  at  the  front  in  slaying  the  enemy,  was  being  realized ; 
all  this  time  General  Winder  was  enforcing  the  policy  he  declared 
to  Colonel  Chandler,  that  it  was  better  to  leave  the  prisoners  "in  their 
present  condition  until  their  number  had  been  sufficiently  reduced  by 
death  to  make  the  present  arrangements  suffice  for  their  accommoda 
tion." 

The  treatment  of  the  sick  was  not  less  barbarous  than  was  the  treat 
ment  of  the  dead  revolting,  and  Dr.  Jones  speaks  of  the  latter  "as  cal 
culated  to  depress  the  already  despondent  spirits  of  the  living."  He 
said: 

The  dead-house  is  merely  a  frame,  covered  with  old  tentcloth  and  a  few  brushes, 
situated  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the  hospital  grounds.  When  a  patient  dies 
he  is  simply  laid  in  the  narrow  street  in  front  of  his  tent  until  he  is  removed  by 
the  Federal  negroes  [negro  soldiers]  detailed  to  carry  off  the  dead.  If  the 
patient  die  during  the  night,  he  lies  there  until  morning;  and  during  the  day  the 
dead  were  frequently  allowed  to  remain  for  hours  in  those  walks.  In  the  dead- 
house  the  corpses  lay  on  the  bare  ground,  and  were  in  most  cases  covered  with 
filth  and  vermin. 

The  reader  will  recall  how  the  dead-wagon  was  loaded,  tier  upon 
tier,  until  twenty  or  thirty  were  piled  in  like  so  many  swine.  This, 
too,  in  the  presence  of  the  sick  and  dying.  Little  wonder  that  it  was 
calculated  to  "depress  the  despondent  spirits  of  the  living." 

When  Dr.  Bates  was  assigned  to  duty  he  expresses  himself  as 
"shocked  at  the  appearance  of  things.  The  men  were  lying  partially 
nude,  and  dying  and  lousy ;  a  portion  of  them  in  the  sand  and  others 
upon  boards  which  had  been  stuck  upon  props  pretty  well  crowded, 
a  majority  of  them  in  small  tents.  They  could  not  be  furnished  with 
any  clothing  except  the  clothing  of  the  dead,  which  was  generally 
appropriated  by  the  living.  There  was  a  partial  supply  of  wood,  but 
not  sufficient  to  keep  the  men  warm  and  prolong  their  existence.  As 
a  general  thing,  the  patients  were  destitute,  filthy,  and  partly  naked. 
The  clamor  all  the  while  was  for  something  to  eat." 


EESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  363 

Like  testimony  came  from  the  lips  of  many  others.  But  why  recall 
these  horrors,  which  must  have  made  upon  the  reader  a  lasting  impres 
sion  as  he  progressed  through  their  unfolding  in  previous  pages? 
Other  abhorrent  features  of  this  so-called  hospital  will  not  be  forgot 
ten,  and  need  not  be  referred  to  again. 

It  is  true  that  medical  science  has  advanced  much  since  the  Civil 
War,  and  armies  in  the  field  and  in  hospital  receive  more  skillful  treat 
ment  now  than  then;  but  it  would  be  an  unwarranted  impeachment 
of  the  intelligence  of  that  day  to  suggest  that  the  hospital  we  have 
been  examining  was  managed  as  it  might  or  should  have  been,  or 
that  it  was  conducted  with  a  view  to  prolong  the  lives  of  its  unfortu 
nate  patients.  There  has  never  been  a  time  in  the  history  of  the 
human  family  when  it  was  supposed  that  man,  sick  or  well,  could 
exist  without  nourishment.  Yet  here  was  a  hospital  where  "the  clamor 
all  the  while  was  for  something  to  eat" ;  and  this,  too,  in  a  region  to 
which  the  prisoners  were  sent  because,  as  Mr.  Davis  said,  "it  was  a 
productive  farming  country,"  and  because,  as  Commissary-General 
Ruffin  testified,  "it  was  the  seat  of  plenty." 

The  stockade  and  the  hospital  were  the  chief  causes  of  the  mortality, 
and  it  was  the  professional  opinion  of  surgeons  on  duty  there  "that 
seventy-five  per  cent  of  those  who  died  might  have  been  saved  had 
these  unfortunate  men  been  properly  cared  for  as  to  food,  clothing, 
bedding,  etc." 

There  were  many  deaths  from  violence,  through  ignominious  pun 
ishments  inflicted  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war.  These,  in  the  aggre 
gate,  seem  insignificant  when  compared  with  the  thousands  who  died  in 
the  prison  pen  and  hospital,  but  the  manner  of  their  taking  off  shows 
the  reckless  abandon  of  Winder  and  Wirz  in  their  successful  execution 
of  the  conspiracy. 

THE   CONSPIRACY. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  halt  now  to  show,  what  is  settled  law,  that 
criminal  intent  may  be  presumed  to  have  accompanied  the  criminal 
act.  The  law  upon  this  point  is  fully  given  in  the  address  of  the 
Judge  Advocate,  hereinafter  partly  given,  to  which  the  reader  is 
referred.  Nor  will  I  undertake  to  point  out  here  all  the  facts  and  cir 
cumstances  leading  to  the  conclusion  reached  by  the  court.  The 
policy  pursued  by  the  rebel  authorities  throughout  the  tragedy  of  the 
Rebellion  is  plainly  manifested  in  the  letter  of  Colonel  Robert  Quid, 
Commissioner  of  Exchange,  as  early  as  March  17,  1863,  written  to. 


364  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

General  Winder  at  a  time  when  the  rebel  government  was  exchanging 
Libby  and  Belle  Island  prisoners  for  prisoners  held  in  the  North  by  the 
Federal  government.  He  said :  "The  arrangements  I  have  made  works 
largely  in  our  favor.  We  get  rid  of  a  set  of  miserable  wretches,  and 
receive  some  of  the  best  material  I  ever  saw."  This  was  a  year  pre 
vious  to  the  opening  of  the  Andersonville  drama,  but  the  proofs 
abound  that  our  soldiers  in  rebel  prisons  continued  to  be  treated  as 
they  were  later  at  Andersonville.  All  through  this  record  is  evidence 
of  this  fact.  Indeed,  it  was  attempted  to  be  shown  in  defense  of  Wirz 
and  the  prison  management  at  Andersonville,  that  prisoners  came 
there  from  Libby,  Belle  Island,  Florence,  Salisbury  and  other  places  in 
the  South  in  a  dying  condition. 

In  his  letter  of  May  5,  1865,  to  General  Wilson,  Wirz  wrote :  "I  do 
not  think  that  I  ought  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  shortness  of 
rations,  for  the  overcrowded  state  of  the  prison  (which  was  of  itself 
a  prolific  source  of  fearful  mortality),  for  the  inadequate  supplies  of 
clothing,  want  of  shelter,  etc.  Still,  I  now  bear  the  odium,  and  men 
who  were  prisoners  seem  disposed  to  wreak  their  vengeance  upon  me 
for  what  they  have  suffered ;  I  was  only  the  medium,  or  I  may  better 
say  the  tool,  in  the  hands  of  my  superiors." 

Could  confession  go  further?  Is  there  not  here  an  admission  of 
the  main  facts  adduced  at  the  trial?  Does  not  the  record  disclose 
who  were  the  superiors  referred  to  who  must  share  the  responsibility 
of  this  great  crime?  And  will  the  law  acquit  a  co-conspirator,  who 
was  a  willing  tool  in  the  perpetration  of  the  conspiracy?  Was  Wirz 
under  any  such  physical  coercion  as  should  shield  him? 

Again  he  appealed  to  the  court  in  his  address:  "Am  I  the  person 
who,  from  my  position  at  Andersonville,  should  properly  be  held 
accountable  for  the  crowded  condition  of  the  stockade,  the  want  of 
shelter,  the  unwholesomeness  of  the  food,  the  impurity  of  the  water, 
the  inadequate  hospital  accommodations,  and  the  lack  of  medicines 
and  medical  supplies,  all  of  which  combined  and  led  to  the  dreadful 
mortality  which  prevailed  at  that  place  ?"  Again :  "A  poor  subaltern 
officer  should  not  be  called  upon  to  bear  upon  his  overburdened  shoul 
ders  the  faults  and  misdeeds  of  others."  Again :  "It  is  not  for  me  to 
suggest  where  the  culpability  or  responsibility  lay." 

No,  it  was  not  for  him  to  say;  for  in  this  responsibility  he  was  a 
willing  sharer.  There  does,  indeed,  seem  to  have  been  a  failure  of 
justice  that  he  alone  should  have  suffered  vicariously  "for  the  misdeeds 


EESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  365 

of  others."     But  the  righteousness  of  the  verdict  resides  in  the  fact 
that,  though  not  alone  in  guilt,  he  still  was  guilty. 

NEGATIVE   TESTIMONY. 

There  is  testimony  by  persons  who  were  on  duty  at  Andersonviller 
and  in  a  few  instances  by  the  prisoners  themselves,  that  they  never 
knew  or  heard  of  Wirz  having  killed  a  prisoner,  and  some  testified 
that  they  never  saw  him  commit,  or  heard  of  his  committing,  any  per 
sonal  act  of  cruelty  upon  the  prisoners.  From  this  negative  testimony 
the  inference  is  sought  to  be  drawn  that  he  was  not  guilty  of  any 
such  crimes.  These  witnesses  all  agree  that  Wirz  was  a  very  profane 
man,  a  man  of  high  and  ungovernable  temper;  that  he  cursed  the 
prisoners,  and  often  was  rough  in  his  personal  treatment  of  them; 
that  he  carried  a  revolver,  and  was  known  to  have  threatened  to  use 
it;  that  he  consigned  prisoners  to  the  stocks  and  chain-gang  for  no 
other  offense  than  that  of  attempting  to  escape,  as  was  their  right  and 
duty  to  do  if  they  could;  that  he  was  the  prisonkeeper  and  directly 
responsible  not  only  for  their  safety,  but  for  their  subsistence  and 
comfort.  Some  of  these  witnesses  thought  that  had  Wirz  been  guilty 
of  personally  causing  the  death  of  a  prisoner  by  his  own  hand  or  by 
his  order  they  would  have  heard  of  it ;  others  admitted  that  they  had 
little  or  nothing  to  do  with  the  prisoners  or  their  care,  and  that  the 
crimes  charged  against  Wirz  might  have  been  committed  by  him  and 
they  not  have  known  it.  But  before  we  can  discard  and  disbelieve 
the  sworn  testimony  of  eye-witnesses  we  must  be  able  to  say  that  these 
witnesses  were  willful  perjurers,  and  this  we  must  conclude  from  the 
inherent  improbability  of  the  testimony.  It  does  not  present  the  case 
of  conflicting  testimony  generally  met  with  in  criminal  trials,  for  there 
was  no  conflict.  The  case  is  not  an  ordinary  one  such  as  arises  in  a 
peaceful  community  suddenly  aroused  by  the  perpetration  of  a  mur 
der.  We  are  not  dealing  with  some  great  crime  committed  in  a  well- 
organized  city  of  thirty  thousand  inhabitants,  where  its  infrequency 
promotes  publicity  and  the  shock  passes  wavelike  from  house  to  house. 

What  was  the  situation  at  Andersonville  ?  Need  I  recall  the  picture 
so  often  described  by  the  witnesses?  Men  were  shot  almost  daily  on 
the  dead-line ;  the  victims  of  disease  and  starvation  were  being  carted 
off  to  the  burying-ground  in  wagonloads  by  hundreds,  almost  a  thou 
sand  in  a  week  at  times,  buried  without  ceremony  in  nameless  graves, 
unhonored  and  unsung ;  scenes  of  horror  surrounded  the  prison ; 
human  life  was  little  valued,  and  death  had  no  terror  and  attracted 


366  THE    TRAGEDY    OF    ANDERSONVILLE. 

scant  notice.  "When  men  were  dying  by  hundreds  daily,  from  causes 
no  less  criminal  than  if  caused  by  direct  violence,  is  it  strange  that 
an  individual  homicide,  committed  by  Wirz  or  any  one  else,  should 
have  been  unknown  to  some  in  the  camp  or  in  the  prison  ? 

But  it  is  urged  in  defense  that  Wirz  showed  a  spirit  of  mercy  and 
kindness  in  certain  instances.  He  extended  to  Father  Whelan  and 
Father  Hamilton  the  courtesy  of  allowing  them  to  administer  spiritual 
•comfort  to  the  dying,  although  Father  Hamilton  found  it  impossible, 
by  curtailing  the  sacrament,  to  reach  all  the  dying,  they  perished  so 
rapidly.  Could  Wirz  have  done  less  and  have  claimed  the  right  to 
the  human  name?  He  made  recommendations  which  would  have 
helped  matters  if  carried  out ;  but  they  were  recommendations  which 
he  had  the  power  himself  to  execute,  and  he  should  have  done  so,  but 
did  not.  These  things  showed  that  there  was  some  human  kindness 
in  his  nature,  but  they  are  not  wholly  incompatible  with  guilt  and 
in  themselves  are  insufficient  to  raise  a  reasonable  doubt  that  he  com 
mitted  the  crimes  charged  against  him. 

CHARGE    OF    MURDER. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  evidence  of  murder  lacks  credence 
because  the  witnesses  could  not  always  give  the  name  of  the  victim 
or  identify  him  in  any  way,  nor  give  the  precise  date  of  the  homicide. 
This  is  true  of  some,  but  not  all  of  the  instances.  I  will  not  attempt 
an  analysis  of  the  testimony  touching  individual  cases ;  this  was  thor 
oughly  done  by  the  Judge  Advocate  in  his  address  to  the  court,  which 
the  reader  may  consult.  It  is  not  necessary  to  a  full  justification  of 
the  sentence  of  the  court  that  more  than  one  deliberate  and  intentional 
homicide  of  an  unoffending  prisoner  should  be  established  to  a  moral 
certainty;  and  that  one  such  case  was  shown,  and  more  than  one, 
cannot  be  doubted,  without  an  absolute  rejection  of  the  testimony 
as  unworthy  of  belief.  The  witnesses  were  before  the  court;  their 
manner  of  testifying  was  under  observation;  the  effect  of  the  cross- 
examination  was  open  to  scrutiny;  and  the  surrounding  circum 
stances  also  cast  their  weight  upon  the  issue.  Can  we  say, — has  any 
one  the  right  to  say — that  the  witnesses  absolutely  perjured  them 
selves,  and  that  the  members  of  the  court,  all  of  them  men  of  high 
rank  and  unimpeachable  character,  willfully  violated  their  oaths  to 
give  the  accused  a  fair  and  impartial  trial  upon  the  evidence  adduced 
before  them? 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


368  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

Witnesses  generally  stated  that  they  took  but  little  note  of  time; 
that  they  did  not  know  one  day  from  another ;  some  lost  even  the  recur 
rence  of  the  month. 

Identification  might  be  possible,  as  it  was  in  some  of  the  cases,  but 
in  others  the  victim  might  not  at  the  moment  be  near  any  of  his  known 
comrades,  and  the  evidence  was  that  the  prisoners  became  so  begrimed 
with  dirt  and  emaciated  by  suffering  that  they  were  past  recognition. 
And  who  was  to  prosecute  an  inquiry  after  the  man  was  killed  ?  His 
body  was  carried  out  of  the  prison  pen  and  carted  off  with  the  other 
dead  of  the  day  to  the  cemetery.  What  motive  was  there  for  investi 
gating  these  occurrences  or  fixing  them  in  the  memory  of  the  wit 
nesses  ?  Was  not  Wirz  the  sole  arbiter  of  his  own  conduct  ?  Out  of 
all  the  cruel  killings  by  Wirz  and  the  prison  guards,  or  by  the  treat 
ment  or  lack  of  treatment  of  the  sick  in  the  hospital  and  in  the  prison, 
was  there  ever  a  court  of  inquiry  called  or  any  investigation  of  a 
judicial  character?  Is  there  any  inherent  improbability  in  the  testi 
mony  that  charges  the  killing  by  Wirz's  own  hands,  in  view  of  the 
known  character  of  the  man,  of  the  boasts  he  made  that  he  was  doing 
better  service  than  any  general  in  the  field,  and  of  the  indifference 
with  which  he  saw  the  prisoners  dying  by  thousands  from  the  treat 
ment  they  were  receiving? 

The  specifications  under  charge  11  relate  particularly  to  the  con 
duct  of  Wirz  personally  towards  the  prisoners,  embracing  acts  of 
violence  resulting  in  death  at  his  hands,  directly  or  by  his  order.  In 
judging  the  evidence  connecting  him  immediately  with  these  homi 
cidal  acts,  we  may,  and  should,  to  a  right  understanding  of  the  evi 
dence,  take  into  consideration  all  his  acts  in  connection  with  the  prison 
management.  His  disposition  toward  the  prisoners,  his  cursing  them, 
his  violent  and  ungovernable  temper,  his  threats  of  bodily  injury,  his 
depriving  them  of  rations,  punishing  the  innocent  for  breaches  of 
discipline  by  others,  his  modes  of  cruel  and  inhuman  punishment  for 
trivial  and  wholly  inadequate  infractions  of  rules,  the  frightful  mor 
tality  in  hospital  and  prison,  much  of  which  it  was  within  his  power 
to  have  avoided, — indeed,  in  large  degree,  his  responsibility  for  the 
indescribable  horrors  of  the  prison  life  at  Andersonville, — all  bear 
upon  and  help  to  shed  light  upon  and  render  probable  the  evidence 
directed  to  the  charge  of  murder.  It  is  a  legal  and  logical  deduction 
from  this  continuous  and  unbroken  series  of  cruelties  resulting  in  the 


RESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  369 

death  of  many  thousands,  of  which  he  was  a  willing  instrument,  that 
such  a  man  was  quite  capable  of  being  guilty  of  personal  and  individual 
acts  of  cruelty  which  caused  immediate  death. 

If  the  general  management  of  the  prison  had  been  humane,  and 
everything  had  been  done  for  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  the  prisoners 
which  reasonably  could  have  been  expected  under  the  circumstances; 
had  there  been  no  chain-gang,  no  stocks,  no  shutting  off  of  rations 
as  punishment,  no  brutal  pursuit  of  escaping  prisoners  by  ferocious 
dogs,  no  indiscriminate  killing  at  the  dead-line, — in  short,  had  the 
prison  been  conducted  by  Captain  Wirz  with  some  regard  for  the 
principles  that  govern  civilized  nations  in  time  of  war, — it  would  be 
hard  to  believe  the  witnesses  who  testified  to  the  facts  upon  which 
he  was  found  guilty  under  charge  11 — the  charge  of  murder.  But, 
unfortunately,  Wirz  could  come  before  the  court  with  no  such  record 
in  his  favor.  All  his  conduct  tended  to  make  probable  his  guilt  of  the 
specific  homicides  laid  at  his  door.  It  is  true,  under  the  rules  of 
criminal  procedure,  that  where  one  is  on  trial  for  some  specific  crime, 
evidence  of  other  and  different  crimes  is  not  admissible  to  prove  the 
crime  charged.  But  where  an  unbroken  series  of  crimes  appears,  and 
all  point  to  a  common  purpose,  and  all  tend  to  a  like  result,  in  all  of 
which  the  accused  is  criminally  implicated,  it  is  competent  evidence 
as  tending  to  establish  his  guilt  of  one  or  more  individual  crimes 
intimately  connected  with  the  series. 

SOME    MORTUARY   STATISTICS — JOHNSON'S   ISLAND    FEDERAL   PRISON    COM 
PARED  WITH  ANDERSONVILLE TABLE  OF  DEATHS  BY  MONTHS 

NUMBER  OF  DEAD  AT  ANDERSONVILLE,   13,171. 

It  has  been  frequently  stated  in  Southern  papers  that  more  deaths 
of  rebel  soldiers  occurred  in  Union  prisons  than  of  Union  soldiers 
in  rebel  prisons.  This  statement  is  based  upon  a  report  made  July 
18,  1866,  by  General  Hitchcock  to  Secretary  Stanton,  in  which  it 
appears  that  the  number  of  rebel  prisoners  during  the  war  is  given 
as  220,000,  and  the  deaths  were  26,436,  or  12  per  cent,  and  that  the 
number  of  Union  prisoners  is  given  as  126,952,  and  the  deaths  were 
22,576,  or  17.78  per  cent.  General  Hitchcock  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  the  reports  from  Southern  prisons  were  exceedingly  irreg 
ular,  and  that  no  reports  had  been  received  from  the  Florence  and 


370  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

other  Southern  prisons.  "The  reports,"  he  says,  "received  from  all 
prison  stations  in  the  South  are  believed  to  be  very  incomplete,  with 
the  exception  of  those  received  from  Andersonville,  Ga. ;  Salisbury, 
N.  C.;  Cahaba,  Ala.;  and  Danville,  Va."  He  states  one  instance 
given  by  the  Christian  Commission,  showing  that  there  were  676  Union 
soldiers  died  of  which  no  report  was  made  to  his  office.  It  is  not  pos 
sible  to  approximate  the  actual  deaths  occurring  in  rebel  prisons,  while 
the  deaths  in  Union  prisons  were  carefully  recorded  and  reported.  It 
is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  at  least  two  thousand  of  the  Andersonville 
prisoners,  after  their  release,  died  before  reaching  their  homes,  from 
causes  directly  traceable  to  the  cruel  treatment  given  them  while  in 
prison. 

General  Hitchcock's  letter  follows  r1 

OFFICE  COMMISSARY-GENERAL  OF  PRISONERS, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  July  18,  1866. 
HON.  E.  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War: 

SIR:  In  answer  to  the  resolution  of  the  House  of  Eepresentatives  of  the  12th 
instant  calling  for  a  report  of  the  number  of  deaths  among  Union  soldiers  while 
in  Southern  prisons,  and  also  the  deaths  among  rebel  soldiers  while  held  as  pris 
oners  of  war,  I  have  the  honor  to  state  that  from  the  records  of  this  office  it 
appears  that  26,436  deaths  have  been  reported  among  the  rebel  prisoners  of  war, 
and  22,576  Union  soldiers  are  reported  as  having  died  in  Southern  prisons.  These 
numbers  should  be  seen  in  comparison  with  the  number  of  prisoners  respectively 
held  North  and  South,  to  wit:  In  the  North  there  were  about  220,000,  while  in 
the  South  there  were  little  more  than  half  the  number,  to  wit,  about  126,952, 
as  per  reports  received.  It  also  should  be  noticed  that  while  we  have  accurate 
reports  of  the  deaths  which  occurred  among  rebel  prisoners  in  the  North,  the 
reports  from  Southern  prisons  were  exceedingly  irregular,  as  appears  by  the 
report  of  the  Christian  Commission,  showing  that  there  were  676  Union  soldiers 
died  of  which  no  report  was  made  to  this  office.  Add  to  which  no  reports  of 
deaths  were  made  from  localities  in  the  South,  as  Florence,  S.  C.,  and  other 
places.  The  reports  received  from  all  prison  stations  in  the  South  are  believed 
to  be  very  incomplete,  with  the  exception  of  those  received  from  Andersonville, 
Ga. ;  Salisbury,  N.  C.;  Cahaba,  Ala.;  and  Danville,  Va.  The  number  of  deaths 
included  in  the  Christian  Commission  report  chiefly  refer  to  battle-fields,  with  the 
exception  of  the  676  whose  graves  were  found  at  prison  camps. 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

E.  A.  HlTCHCOCK,2 

Major-General  U.  S.  Vols.;   Commissary-General  of  Prisoners. 

1  War  of  the  Rebellion,  series  2,  vol.  8,  pp.  946,  947. 

2  The  statistics  do  not  sustain  Governor  Woodrow  Wilson,  who  states  that  the  number  of 
dead  in  the  prisons  of  the  two  armies  were  about  equal.     The  relative  per  cent  was  11%  rebel 
and  1 8%  Union.     History  of  the  American  People,  vol.  IV,  p.  307. 


EESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  371 

SOME  FURTHER  COMPARISONS. 

Eebel  prisoners  on  hand  at  the  beginning  of  each  month    in    the 
twenty-five  prisons  of  the  North  for  the  year  1864 :  * 

Prisoners.            Died.  Total. 

January   35,489                 801  36,290 

February 34,983                 779  35,762 

March    33,860                 675  34,535 

April    33,798                 413  34,211 

May 33,592                 357  33,949 

June    44,310                 436  44,746 

July    49,564                 715  50,279 

August   50,838                 793  51,631 

September    56,931                 879  57,810 

October    57,098                 772  57,870 

November    55,243                 818  56,061 

December  50,825              1,084  51,909 


Total    8,522  545,053 

Average  per  month 710  45,421 

There  were  accessions  during  the  month  and  transfers  to  other 
prisons,  exchanges,  escapes,  and  releases.  But  the  beginning  of  the 
month  plus  the  accessions,  less  the  transfers,  gives  the  number,  when 
added  to  the  deaths,  as  the  number  actually  accounted  for.  The  num 
ber  at  the  beginning  of  the  month  plus  the  deaths  would  give  the 
ratio  of  prisoners  to  number  of  dead. 

Average  number   of  prisoners  per  month  in  twenty-five 

Northern  prisons  during  year 45,421 

Total  deaths   8,522 

Average  per  month 710 

In  Andersonville  there  died  :2 

In  June 1,187 

In  July 1,731 

In  August 2,994 

In  September 2,677 


Total 8,589 

Average  number  of  prisoners  at  end  of  each  month  3 ....   24,489 
Average  deaths  per  month  for  four  months 2,147 

More  died  in  this  one  prison  of  the  South  in  four  months  than  died 
in  the  twenty-five  prisons  of  the  North  for  the  entire  year  of  1864, 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  8,  series  2,  p.  994. 

2  Superintendent  Bryant's  table,  p.  375. 
*  Dr.  Stevenson's  Book,  p.  403. 


372  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

and  the  average  number  of  prisoners  in  Northern  prisons  was  nearly 
double  the  average  number  in  Andersonville  prison  for  these  four 
months. 

JOHNSON'S  ISLAND  AND  ANDERSONVILLE  PRISONS  COMPARED. 

One  of  the  Northern  prisons  frequently  brought  into  comparison 
with  Southern  prisons,  by  apologists  for  Andersonville,  is  Johnson's 
Island.  We  have  the  statistics  of  Johnson's  Island.1  I  give  here  a 
table  of  prisoners  and  deaths  by  months  for  twelve  months,  from 
April,  1864,  to  March,  1865,  inclusive,  at  Johnson's  Island,  covering 
most  of  the  life  of  the  Andersonville  Prison: 

1864.                                                                         Prisoners.  Deaths. 

April ..-,. 2,251  4 

May   . 2,114  4 

June 2,313  1 

July   2,244  1 

August    2,570  1 

September 2,717  5 

October 2,697  2 

November    2,754  4 

December    3,231  9 

1865. 

January 3,256  7 

February 3,025  6 

March    2,456  2 

Average  number  of  prisoners  per  month  for  the  12  months,  2,636 

Average  number  of  deaths  per  month  for  the  12  months.  .  3.8 

The  average  number  of  prisoners  per  month  at  Andersonville  for 
the  period  stated,  as  reported  by  Dr.  Stevenson,2  was  12,527.  The 
average  number  of  deaths  per  month  for  that  period,  as  given  by 
Superintendent  Bryant,  was  1,049.  The  statistics  show  that  at  John 
son's  Island  the  average  deaths  per  month  were  1.5  per  cent,  and  at 
Andersonville  they  were  8.3  per  cent  per  month. 

I  do  not  wish  to  convey  the  idea  by  these  comparisons  that  there 
was  no  unusual  suffering  among  rebel  prisoners  of  war,  or  that  the 
mortality  was  no  greater  than  might  ordinarily  have  been  expected 
among  a  like  number  suddenly  thrown  into  confinement.  There  was 
suffering  and  there  were  many  deplorable  deaths.  But  what  I 
claim  and  what  the  records  of  our  prisons  will  show  is — that  sufficient 
and  nourishing  food  was  supplied ;  barracks  and  shelter  from  heat  and 


1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  8,  series  2,  p.  994. 

2  Dr.  Stevenson's  Book,  p.  403. 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  IOWA. 


374  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

cold  were  provided ;  bedding  and  lodging  facilities,  rough,  to  be  sure, 
but  yet  reasonably  comfortable,  were  furnished;  and  there  was  an 
honest  effort  to  provide  and  enforce  sanitary  and  police  regulations 
and  to  secure  some  sort  of  orderly  management  and  discipline  in  the 
prisons  and  prison  enclosures.  Frequent  official  inspections  were 
made  by  the  officers  appointed  for  that  purpose  and  defects  in  sanita 
tion  pointed  out  and  remedied.  The  war  department  records  contain 
instances  of  military  trials  of  guards  who  had  recklessly  or  heedlessly 
fired  upon  prisoners.  The  treatment  of  the  sick  was  in  strong  con 
trast  with  that  given  in  Southern  prisons,  of  which  we  had  just  cause 
for  complaint.  And  the  highest  proof  that  there  was  a  vast  difference 
between  the  treatment  given  the  prisoners  generally  by  the  respective 
governments  resides  in  the  undisputed  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of 
rebel  prisoners  were  ready  for  service  at  any  moment  of  their  dis 
charge,  while  the  prisoners  confined  in  Libby,  Belle  Island,  Florence, 
Andersonville  and  other  prisons  of  the  South  were  so  reduced  in 
vitality  as  to  be  practically  hors  de  combat,  and  with  little  promise  of 
being  recruited  in  health  for  any  future  service  in  the  army.  This 
fact  is  indubitably  shown  by  the  letter  of  rebel  Commissioner  of  Ex 
change  Ould,  to  General  "Winder,  which  elsewhere  appears  in  this 
volume,  and,  that  this  result  was  part  of  the  policy  being  carried  out, 
is  an  irresistible  inference  from  the  evidence  herein  recorded.  There 
is  in  truth  no  logical  force  in  the  claim,  if  it  be  admitted,  that  the 
rebel  prisoners  were  inadequately  fed  or  cared  for.  It  is  not  pre 
tended  that  our  soldiers  were  starved  in  rebel  prisons  as  a  retaliatory 
measure,  and  such  a  claim,  if  made,  would  necessarily  dispute  the  other 
claim  made  that  they  were  well  fed.  The  treatment  of  rebel  prisoners 
in  the  North  is  wholly  irrelevant  and  can  neither  palliate  nor  excuse  the 
treatment  of  Federal  prisoners  in  the  South.  The  subject  has  been 
referred  to  for  no  other  reason  than  that  there  are  persons  who  would 
find  some  excuse  for  the  crime  of  Andersonville  if  the  facts  would 
warrant  the  belief  that  similar  atrocities  in  kind  and  number,  could 
be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  Federal  government.  But  the  facts  war 
rant  no  such  belief.  Had  conditions  existed  in  Northern  prisons  such 
as  are  shown  to  have  existed  at  Andersonville  and  other  prisons  of  the 
South,  no  power  could  have  restrained  the  public  press  from  exposing 
and  denouncing  the  inhumanity  of  such  a  policy,  and  public  sentiment 
would  have  made  its  enforcement  impossible. 


RESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  375 

The  superintendent  of  the  cemetery,  Mr.  Jas.  M.  Bryant,  in  a  letter 
to  me  of  date  June  13,  1910,  sends  the  following  compilation  of  deaths 
for  each  day  of  each  month.  He  says:  "The  enclosed  figures  are  not 
absolutely  correct,  but  are  a  very  close  approximation" : 

DAILY  RECORD  OF  DEATHS  IN  ANDERSONVILLE  MILITARY  PRISON  PEN. 


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DEATHS   AT   ANDERSONVILLE   PRISON,    13,171. 

Surgeon  Isaiah  White,  when  on  duty  there,  in  an  official  report  to 
the  end  of  July,  reported  4,585  deaths.  Captain  Wirz  reported  the 
deaths  for  August  at  2,993,  and  Dr.  Jones  reported  the  deaths  for 
August  as  2,992,  less  than  either  Stevenson  or  Bryant,  making  to  the 
end  of  August  7,577,  as  against  7,494  compiled  by  Superintendent 


376  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

Bryant.  In  his  book,  Dr.  Stevenson  states  the  deaths  for  September 
at  2,794  (Mr.  Bryant's  figures  give  2,677),  making  the  total,  as  shown 
by  official  reports  and  Dr.  Stevenson's  table,  to  October  1st,  10,371. 

Dr.  Stevenson  made  an  official  report  to  General  Winder  for  October 
in  which  the  dead  are  given  for  that  month  as  1,595,  the  same  as  by 
Mr.  Bryant.  This  brings  the  total  to  the  end  of  October  to  11,966. 
For  the  remaining  six  months  Dr.  Stevenson  in  his  book  states  the 
dead  at  1,205,  and  Mr.  Bryant  at  1,144.  Taking  Mr.  Bryant's  figures 
for  these  last  months,  we  have  a  total  of  13,110.  Using  Dr.  Stevenson's 
figures,  we  have  13,171. 

There  cannot  be  any  doubt  that  the  dead  exceeded  thirteen  thou 
sand.  Both  Dr.  Stevenson  and  Mr.  Bryant  have  failed  to  get  the  cor 
rect  figures  for  the  period  to  the  end  of  August  as  to  which  we  have 
the  official  reports.  In  his  table  Dr.  Stevenson  gives  the  total  to  August 
31st  at  7,156,  whereas  the  official  reports  show  the  correct  figures  to 
be  7,577,  a  difference  of  421.  Mr.  Bryant's  table  shows  83  less  than 
the  official  figures.  There  are  but  12,912  graves  identified  or  marked, 
including  443  marked  as  "unknown."  The  actual  deaths,  as  I  have 
shown,  were  13,171. 

The  question  arises,  Where  are  those  259  nameless  bodies  to  be 
found?  The  evidence  was  that  men  died  and  were  buried  who  re 
ceived  no  medical  treatment  and  whose  identity  was  lost.  The  reports 
show  443  of  these  unidentified  dead  wThose  graves  are  known.  But  as 
to  names  marked  "unknown" !  Where  are  the  bodies  of  these  addi 
tional  259  ?  They  lie  scattered  somewhere  among  the  bodies  of  their 
comrades,  and  are  not  even  designated  as  "unknown."  We  are  told, 
by  Dr.  Jones  and  other  witnesses,  that  numerous  post-mortem  exam 
inations  were  made  "in  the  interest  of  science."  Can  it  be  that  the 
dissection  of  the  dead  so  dismembered  the  bodies  as  to  leave  them 
unrecognizable?  Who  shall  answer  for  this  desecration,  this  mutila 
tion  of  the  dead,  thus  leaving  in  painful  uncertainty  the  fate  of  men 
supposed  to  have  been  tenants  of  that  wretched  prison  pen  ? 

Four  hundred  and  forty-three  bodies  of  Union  soldiers  lie  in  Ander- 
sonville  Cemetery  whose  identity  has  been  lost,  but  their  graves  are 
marked.  Two  hundred  and  fifty-nine  others  died  there,  and  not  even 
the  place  of  burial  is  known  or  their  remains  marked  in  any  way ! 

There  is  no  angle,  no  perspective  by  which  to  view  Andersonville 
that  does  not  present  the  same  criminal  mismanagement;  the  same 
revolting,  condemnatory  picture  of  suffering  and  death  which  no 


378  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

consideration  now  put  forward  can  for  one  moment  offer  excuse  or 
palliation. 

The  monument  to  Wirz  may  stand  with  its  misleading  and  false 
inscriptions.  The  children  in  the  schools  of  the  South  may  be  taught, 
as  the  young  lady  informed  General  Ketcham  they  were  being  taught, 
"how  atrocious  was  the  conduct  of  the  Union  officials  and  how  humane 
and  just  was  the  conduct  of  the  Confederate  officials,"  but  the  truth 
of  history  can  never  be  effaced. 

The  cruelty,  the  sufferings  needlessly  and  wickedly  inflicted  upon 
helpless  Union  prisoners  may  be  forgiven, — the  thirteen  thousand 
victims  of  that  needless  suffering  at  Andersonville  may  be  counted 
among  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  willingly  gave  their  lives  to 
save  the  Union, — but  it  is  not  in  the  nature  of  man  to  forget  such 
sacrifices. 

Mr.  Scott  Doane,  a  prominent  citizen  of  Red  Bluff,  California,  was 
on  duty  as  guard  at  Johnson's  Island  Prison.  He  has  furnished  me  a 
photograph  of  that  prison  and  a  photograph  of  a  sketch  of  the  prison 
drawn  by  a  Confederate  soldier  who  was  a  prisoner  there.  Mr.  Doane 
states  that  the  prison  grounds  contained  fourteen  acres.  There  are 
43,560  square  feet  in  an  acre  and  in  fourteen  acres  609,840  square 
feet.  The  table  I  have  given  at  page  372  shows  that  the  average 
monthly  number  of  prisoners  at  Johnson's  Island  was  2,636.  The 
largest  number  was  in  January,  1865,  there  then  being  3,256.  The 
prisoners  thus  had  187.3  square  feet  to  the  man.  Taking  the  average 
number,  each  man  had  231.4  square  feet.  But  the  barracks  were  two 
stories,  which  added  to  the  available  space.  Compare  this  with  An 
dersonville,  where  each  man  had  but  27  square  feet — a  space  3  by  9 
feet. 

Now  look  at  the  well-appointed  barracks  as  shown  in  the  picture 
of  Johnson's  Island  and  turn  back  to  page  245  and  look  upon  the 
picture  sketched  by  O'Dea.  Imagine  that  mass  of  crowded  human 
beings  without  shelter  of  any  kind  and  given  but  3  feet  by  9  feet  in 
which  to  live  and  surrounded  by  a  moving  throng  equally  restricted 
in  their  movements.  Compare  this  scene  with  the  ample  quarters 
given  the  rebel  prisoners  at  Johnson's  Island.  Is  it  not  amazing  that 
at  this  late  day  the  school  children  of  the  South  are  being  taught, 
as  Miss  B aster  says  is  being  done,  "telling  how  atrocious  was  the 
conduct  of  the  Union  officials  and  how  humane  and  just  was  the  con 
duct  of  the  Confederate  officials." 

Mr.  Doane's  letter  follows : 


RESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  379 

EED  BLUFF,  CALIF.,  Sept.  28,  1911. 
GEN.  N.  P.  CHIPMAN, 

Sacramento,  CaL 

Dear  Sir  and  Comrade:  Yours  of  the  24th  ult.  came  duly  to  hand.  About  John 
son's  Island  Military  Prison:  The  sketch  was  made  by  a  Confederate  prisoner  in 
the  summer  of  1864  and  was  photographed  soon  after.  I  got  one  of  the  photos  at 
that  time  and  carried  it  in  my  pocket  for  many  years.  It  is  very  correct  as  to  the 
inside  of  the  prison,  so  much  so  that  many  of  us  who  had  been  familiar  with  the 
post  for  years  throught  it  a  photograph  taken  in  the  usual  way  and  not  from  a 
sketch.  You  will  notice  that  there  are  six  buildings  in  each  of  the  two  rows  and 
one  in  the  center  between  the  rows.  Each  of  these  thirteen  buildings  was  about 
30  x  120  feet,  two  stories  of  about  ten  feet  each  in  height.  They  were  ceiled  up  with 
matched  lumber  all  through  the  same  as  the  barracks  for  the  garrison.  The  two 
long,  low  buildings  to  the  left  of  the  barracks  were  for  bathing  and  washing 
clothing.  I  have  a  photograph  of  the  upper  left-hand  corner  of  the  prison  as  shown 
in  sketch,  which  gives  a  good  view  of  one  of  the  prison  barracks  and  some  of  the 
garrison  buildings,  also  the  prison  wall,  etc.  The  size  of  this  photo  is  about  6x8 
inches,  and  will  just  fill  one  full  page  of  your  book.  It  is  an  unquestionable  evi 
dence  of  the  comfortable  way  in  which  the  prisoners  were  housed.  I  will  lend  it 
to  you  if  you  think  you  can  make  use  of  it. 

About  the  size  of  the  prison  inclosure:  It  was  always  called  14  acres,  and  my 
estimate  would  be  that  it  was  about  60  rods  the  way  the  rows  of  buildings  run  and 
about  35  to  40  rods  the  other  way. 

Prom  the  time  I  was  first  stationed  at  this  prison  in  September,  1862,  to  the 
time  of  my  discharge  from  the  army  in  June,  1865,  there  was  only  one  prisoner 
killed  by  the  guards.  That  was  during  an  attempted  wholesale  scaling  of  the  walls 
at  night  in  the  winter  of  1864-5,  in  which  about  two  hundred  prisoners  took  part. 
Not  one  succeeded  in  making  good  his  escape. 

I  was  at  various  times  employed  at  headquarters,  examining  the  correspondence 
to  and  from  the  prisoners;  in  the  commissary  department,  dealing  out  rations  to 
both  prisoners  and  garrison,  and  know  that  all  were  served  alike,  except  that  pris 
oners  had  a  little  less  in  quantity  than  our  men,  who  were  constantly  engaged  in 
active  duty.  I  also  for  a  time  had  charge  of  the  examining  and  delivery  in  prison 
of  goods  sent  by  flag  of  truce  and  from  friends  in  the  north,  amounting  to  about  a 
two-horse  wagon-load  per  day.  This  latter  duty  took  me  into  the  prison  every  day, 
so  that  I  had  a  chance  to  know  fully  what  their  condition  was,  and  can  truly  say 
that  they  were  treated  with  humanity  and  justice,  and  that  they  had  everything 
provided  for  their  health  and  comfort,  the  same  as  Federal  soldiers.  In  ease  of 
death  a  squad  of  Confederates  went  out  under  guard  and  buried  their  comrade 
with  such  services  and  ceremony  as  they  saw  fit. 

If  there  is  any  further  information  on  this  subject  that  will  be  of  service  to  you 
that  I  can  give,  will  be  pleased  to  serve  you.  If  you  wish  to  have  a  cut  made  for 
your  book  of  the  prison  sketch,  I  can  send  you  the  original  photograph,  which  is 
much  better  than  the  copy  I  sent  you. 

Very  sincerely  yours  in  F.  C.  &  L., 

SCOTT  DOANE. 

I  have  no  hesitation  in  placing  before  the  reader  another  letter 
bearing  upon  the  treatment  of  rebel  prisoners  of  war  while  in  Federal 
prisons.  Mr.  A.  D.  Cutler,  treasurer  of  the  Cutting  Packing  Com- 


380  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

pany,  San  Francisco,  has  written  me  his  observations  at  Fort  Dela 
ware.  He  was  in  a  position  to  know  whereof  he  speaks  and  his  repu 
tation  as  a  man  of  honor  and  integrity  is  so  well  established  that  his 
statements  may  be  received  as  importing  verity.  He  writes : 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  August  25,  1911. 
GEN.  N.  P.  CHIPMAN. 

Dear  Sir:  I  notice  in  your  recent  publication  of  the  trial  of  Wirz  comparison  and 
conclusions  between  Northern  prisons  for  Confederates  and  Andersonville. 

My  regiment  (Sixth  Massachusetts  Infantry)  was  on  duty  at  Fort  Delaware,  one 
of  the  largest  of  the  Northern  prisons,  during  September  and  October,  1864.  There 
were  about  9,000  Confederates  confined  there,  the  greater  part  of  them  from  the 
battlefields  of  the  Richmond  campaign.  They  were  fed,  clothed,  sheltered  and 
treated  every  way  with  the  utmost  kindness  when  well,  and  when  sick  there  was  no 
perceptible  difference  between  their  clothing,  fare,  accommodations  and  treatment 
and  that  of  our  own  men.  They  usually  arrived  from  recent  battles,  often  wounded 
and  sick  and  generally  dirty  and  ragged.  When  destitute  they  were  supplied  from 
new  but  condemned  clothing  of  which  a  quantity  was  supplied  by  our  Quarter 
master's  Department  for  that  purpose,  while  blankets  and  quarters  were  practically 
the  same  as  furnished  our  men. 

A  considerable  knowledge  of  the  facts  qualifies  me  to  say  that  their  treatment 
at  this  post  was  above  that  of  our  men  in  the  average  Federal  hospitals  from 
Washington  to  Florida.  There  was  but  little  illness  and  their  wounded  recovered 
rapidly.  Had  it  not  been  for  an  influx  of  smallpox,  the  percentage  of  mortality 
among  them  would  not  have  exceeded  that  of  the  garrison. 

The  pleasantest  relations  existed  between  the  garrison  and  prisoners,  and  so  far 
as  regulations  allowed,  there  was  satisfactory  and  in  some  cases  agreeable  inter 
course. 

Of  course  there  were  infractions  of  prison  rules  and  regulations  and  extreme  cases 
were  punished  with  the  necessary  severity,  even  to  the  shooting  of  prisoners  who 
attempted  to  escape.  In  such  cases  there  was  always,  however,  a  prompt  and 
rigid  investigation  of  all  the  circumstances  by  a  court  as  to  the  necessity  for  so 
extreme  a  penalty  and  our  officers  and  men  were  always  held  to  a  strict  accounta 
bility  for  such  doings.  The  usual  punishment  for  minor  offences  was  by  enforced 
labor  in  improving  the  post  with  new  buildings,  renovating  old  buildings,  cleaning 
old  quarters  and  hauling  military  stores  around  the  post. 

There  was  a  large,  commodious  chapel  at  the  post  to  which  prisoners  were  wel 
come  with  our  men  and  at  which  there  were  services  twice  each  Sunday.  Its  admin 
istration  was  non-sectarian  and  non-partisan,  as  may  be  believed  when  I  recall  that 
Stonewall  Jackson's  father-in-law,  Kev.  Dr.  Jenkins,  preached  there  on  one  occasion 
and  labored  zealously  among  the  prisoners. 

My  experience  from  February  to  June,  1865,  at  Hilton  Head,  S.  C.,  so  far  as  the 
condition  and  treatment  of  Confederate  prisoners  is  concerned,  was  practically  the 
same  as  at  Fort  Delaware,  although  the  number  was  inconsiderable,  a  few  hundred 
at  the  most,  but  seldom  as  many.  While  the  quarters  and  hospital  accommodations 
were  limited  compared  to  Fort  Delaware,  they  were  on  a  par  with  those  of  our  men, 
and  their  rations  practically  the  same, — at  least,  I  recall  no  difference  either  of  qual 
ity  or  quantity.  So  far  as  their  health  was  concerned,  I  am,  at  this  late  date  in 
clined  to  believe  they  had  an  advantage  over  our  men,  in  being  acclimated  and 
immune  as  to  certain  ailments  common  to  our  Southern  coast. 


EESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  381 

In  May,  a  large  number  of  Federal  prisoners,  perhaps  several  thousand,  were 
brought  to  Hilton  Head  by  steamers  from  Confederate  prisons  in  the  interior  of 
Georgia,  presumably  from  Andersonville  and  Macon,  en  route  to  the  North.  They 
were  landed  temporarily  only  until  transportation  north  could  be  arranged  and  also 
to  fit  them  out  with  clothing  and  otherwise  place  them  in  a  fit  condition  for  the 
voyage.  It  was  also  necessary  to  separate  the  dead  from  the  living  and  to  retain 
at  Hilton  Head  those  unable  to  travel.  The  condition  of  these  men  as  a  whole  is 
difficult  to  describe  and  our  people  to-day,  the  two  generations  since  the  war 
especially,  would  not,  in  fact  could  not,  understand  how  or  why  such  conditions 
should  have  existed,  or,  if  known,  allowed  to  continue.  Nothing  of  the  kind  would 
be  tolerated  in  these  days  among  civilized  nations. 

I  have  read  carefully  the  testimony  of  the  witnesses  at  the  Wirz  trial  as  to  the 
condition ,  of  our  men  while  prisoners  at  Andersonville,  and  none  of  them  exag 
gerate  or  exceed  that  of  hundreds  of  the  men  I  saw  landed  at  Hilton  Head  in 
May,  1865. 

In  fact,  although  46  years  have  passed,  the  picture  was  so  startling  that  my 
recollection  of  it  is  complete  and  vivid  and  will  never  be  effaced. 

I  have  in  mind  one  among  them  from  my  native  town,  who  returned  there  and 
lived  a  quarter  century  after,  but  never  recovered  mentally,  although  physically  com 
petent,  after  a  year  or  more  of  home  nursing. 

I  am  positive  that  in  all  my  varied  experiences  in  such  matters  there  has  been 
no  parallel  to  what  I  saw  there  and  that  the  appearance  and  actual  condition  of  the 
men — dead  and  living  alike — confirms  and  substantiates  the  testimony  of  witnesses 
for  the  prosecution  at  the  Wirz  trial. 

The  picture  is  still  vivid  in  my  memory — the  river  boat  tied  up  at  the  long  wharf, 
the  men  landing  and  being  brought  to  land  in  ambulances,  the  groups  standing  and 
others  (both  the  dying  and  the  dead)  lying  beside  them  on  the  sandy  beach — all  as 
though  it  occurred  yesterday  and  no  language  is  adequate  to  describe  their  con 
dition.  Yours  truly, 

A.  D.  CUTLER. 

Believing  that  every  fact  that  can  throw  light  upon  the  question 
relating  to  the  accuracy  of  the  number  of  Union  dead  at  Andersonville 
Cemetery,  and  also  thinking  that  it  would  be  of  interest  to  know  what 
States  contributed  to  this  melancholy  record,  I  am  able  in  this  second 
edition  to  give  the  following  statement,  furnished  by  Superintendent 
Bryant : 

Number  ~by  States  of  Union  Soldiers  Reported  as  Buried  at  Andersonville  National 

Cemetery. 

Maine    252         Kansas 4 

Vermont 248         Wisconsin 260 

Connecticut 306         Alabama 16 

New  York 2,529         Territorial  Infantry 2 

New  Jersey  .  189         U.  S.  Army  368 

Delaware 42         U.  S.  Colored 28 

North  Carolina   19         New  Hampshire    153 

Kentucky 444         Massachusetts 800 

Indiana 652         Ehode  Island 74 

Missouri 105         Pennsylvania 1,863 


382  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

Maryland 189     Minnesota 86 

Virginia  and  West  Virginia 285     Michigan 662 

Tennessee 730     Mississippi 8 

Ohio 1,072     District  of  Columbia   7 

Illinois 924     U.  S.  Navy   121 

Iowa   209     Undesignated ! . .  .  180 

A  recapitulation  by  Superintendent  Bryant  is  as  follows:  — 

Total  number,  supposed  to  be  correct 12,806 

Total  unverified  by  State  Adjutants-General 1,010 

Total  who  survived  the  war   56 

Total  duplicates  found  to  date 6 


Total 13,878 

This  makes  an  apparent  excess  of  fourteen  over  number  carried  as  buried  at 
Andersonville.  There  have  been  a  few  disinterments  since  the  cemetery  was 
established,  and  in  making  up  the  figures  it  was  not  thought  necessary  to  separate 
these  from  the  total;  it  would  have  required  considerable  labor  and  the  error  is  too 
small  to  warrant  it. 

The  following  explanatory  letter  will  be  read  with  interest : 

ANDERSONVILLE,  GA.,  NATIONAL  CEMETERY, 

October  7,  1911. 
HONORABLE  N.  P.  CHIPMAN, 

Presiding  Justice  District  Court  of  Appeals, 

Sacramento,  Cal. 
(Through  depot  quartermaster,  U.  S.  Army,  Jefferaonville,  Indiana.) 

Sir:  Referring  to  your  letter  of  August  30,  1911,  requesting  authority  to  have 
a  photograph  made  of  the  Illinois  Monument,  and  to  be  furnished  with  a  list 
of  the  dead  in  this  cemetery  from  each  state,  you  are  respectfully  informed 
that  the  photograph  was  mailed  to  your  address  some  days  ago  and  letter  of  ad 
vice  mailed  same  day. 

I  enclose  a  list  of  the  dead  here,  as  near  correct  as  it  is  practicable  to  make  it 
at  this  time.  You  will  notice  that  a  large  number  appear  as  "not  verified,"  "sur 
vived  the  war,"  "died  elsewhere"  and  "duplicates.'' 

It  must  not  be  understood,  however,  that  the  1010  appearing  as  "unverified"  are 
not  buried  here.  It  means  that  the  soldier's  name  cannot  be  found  in  the  records 
of  the  state  to  which  credited.  Probably  the  wrong  state  appears  on  our  records 
and  that  he  belonged  to  another  state.  In  fact,  we  have  found  several  such 
errors,  and  in  the  course  of  time  we  hope  to  eliminate  the  greater  portion  of  them. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  verifying  our  records  we  prepared  lists  of 
each  state  and  submitted  them  to  the  various  state  adjutants-general,  who  com 
pared  them  with  the  muster  rolls  and  made  notations  opposite  each  name  of  any 
correction  required.  In  this  manner  we  found  that  several  supposed  to  be  buried 
here  are  yet  alive  or  have  died  in  recent  years.  Some  were  found  to  have  died 
elsewhere.  Two  men  from  the  Sixteenth  Connecticut  Infantry,  killed  at  the  battle 
of  Antietam,  September  17,  1862,  appear  on  our  list  and  their  graves  are  marked 
with  the  regulation  headstone. 

In  several  cases  we  have  got  into  communication  with  men  reported  as  having 
died  at  Andersonville,  but  who  are  yet  alive,  and  have  learned  how  some  of  the 
errors  occurred. 


RESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  383 

Mr.  Silas  D.  Burdick,  formerly  of  Company  C,  Eighty-fifth  New  York  In 
fantry,  appears  as  being  buried  in  grave  No.  10,924.  His  name  is  recorded  and 
a  headstone  marks  his  grave,  yet  he  is  still  living  at  Cuba,  N.  Y.,  and  is  one  of 
the  commissioners  for  the  erection  of  the  New  York  monument  in  this  cemetery. 
Thinking  it  would  interest  you,  I  enclose  a  letter  from  this  gentleman.  Be  sure 
and  return  it  promptly.  Quite  a  number  of  similar  letters  are  on  file,  and  when 
we  get  through  with  the  work  of  gathering  material  for  corrections  and  the  job 
is  finished,  there  will  not  be  many  errors  left. 

There  are  a  number  of  errors  that  can  never  be  corrected;  so  many  men  gave 
the  Confederate  authorities  fictitious  names  when  captured  and  placed  in  prison, 
in  addition  to  which  there  were  quite  a  large  number  in  Sixteenth  Connecticut 
and  Eighty-fifth  New  York,  captured  at  Plymouth,  N.  C.,  who  were  deserters  from 
the  Confederate  army,  and  for  their  protection  in  case  of  recapture  were  given 
the  names  of  former  members  of  those  regiments  who  had  been  lost  in  battle, 
discharged  for  disability  or  for  other  causes.  These  men  when  captured  gave 
the  names  by  which  they  were  known  in  the  Union  army.  When  they  died  they 
were  buried  under  those  names.  Consequently,  when  the  list  is  compared  with  the 
muster  rolls,  it  is  learned  that  the  soldier  was  mustered  out  at  the  end  of  the 
war,  or  was  killed  in  battle  elsewhere,  or  died  and  was  buried  at  another  point. 

By  taking  these  cases  up  with  the  commissioner  of  pensions  we  have,  in  many 
cases,  got  a  history  of  the  matter,  and  if  the  soldier  supposed  to  be  dead  yet 
lives,  his  postoffice  address. 

The  nature  of  this  letter  and  the  fact  that  absolute  correct  information  can 
not  be  supplied  at  this  time  renders  it  desirable,  if  not  necessary,  to  forward 
through  the  quartermasters  department. 

Very  respectfully, 

Your  obedient  servant, 

J.  W.  BRYANT,  Superintendent 

Mr.  Burdick's  letter  here  follows : 

CUBA,  N.  Y.,  E.  2.,  Aug.  26,  1909. 
J.  W.  BRYANT, 

Andersonville,  Georgia. 

My  Dear  Sir  and  Comrade:  In  answer  to  your  letter  of  August  23,  1909,  in 
reference  to  error  in  records,  I  will  explain  how  my  name  is  on  tombstone  10,924. 
It  happened  thus,  I  think:  On  leaving  Andersonville  prison-pen,  September  9, 
1864,  I  gave  my  blanket  to  Addison  A.  Burdick  of  my  company  (C,  85th).  In 
the  corner  of  the  blanket  was  my  name  on  a  sampler,  which  my  mother  had  made 
in  1862  and  sent  me  so  that  I  could  identify  my  blanket  if  lost  or  stolen,  or 
that  others  might  recognize  my  body  if  I  should  be  killed  or  should  die  away 
from  my  company.  I  sewed  the  sampler  onto  the  blanket.  When  we  were  to 
leave  Andersonville  the  rebels  told  us  we  were  to  be  taken  to  Savannah  for  ex 
change  and  as  Addison  was  not  able  to  walk  to  the  station  and,  further,  had  no 
blanket,  I  gave  him  mine.  I  think  he  was  alone  so  far  as  any  of  the  Eighty-fifth 
boys  were  concerned  at  the  time  of  his  death,  and  no  doubt  was  carried  out  in 


384  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

his  blanket  and  the  person  who  made  the  record,  seeing  the  name  on  the  corner 
of  the  blanket,  supposed  that  was  his  name. 

On  May  30,  1890,  a  party  of  ten,  five  men  and  their  wives,  members  of  the 
Eighty-fifth  New  York,  visited  Andersonville.  The  men  had  all  been  prisoners 
at  Andersonville  and  were  much  interested  in  revisiting  the  place.  I  found  my 
name  on  the  grave  of  Addison  A.  and  after  studying  the  subject  for  some  time 
I  came  to  the  conclusion  I  have  given  you.  You  may  recall  our  party,  as  my 
wife  read  the  poem  on  that  day,  which  she  had  written  for  that  occasion. 
With  this  I  send  you  a  roll  of  the  Eighty-fifth  dead  who  died  in  rebel  prisons. 
No  other  regiment  in  the  service  lost  as  many  men  in  prison  as  ours.  A  few 
errors  crept  in  in  this  way. 

At  the  time  of  our  surrender  there  were  two  companies  of  loyal  North  Caro- 
linas,  many  of  whom  had  been  conscripted  into  the  rebel  ranks,  but  having  a 
chance  had  deserted  and  then  joined  the  Union  forces.  After  our  capture,  as 
many  of  these  men  as  possible  took  the  names  of  men  of  the  Eighty-fifth  who 
were  away  from  the  regiment  or  had  been  killed  during  the  battle.  Eugene 
Shippy  of  Company  D  was  on  detached  duty,  but  he  is  recorded  as  having  died  at 
Andersonville.  I  have  made  a  pretty  careful  study  of  our  regiment  and  still  have 
never  been  able  to  get  a  complete  record  of  the  losses  of  the  regiment  while 
prisoners  of  war. 

I  and  my  wife  remember  you  with  pleasure,  on  account  of  the  courtesies  you 
showed  us  at  the  time  of  our  visit  in  1890.  Yours  in  F.  C.  &  L., 

S.  G.  BURDICK,  Co.  C,  85th  N.  Y. 

RULES  IN  TIME  OF  WAR. 

Let  us  stop  for  a  moment  and  consider  some  of  the  principles  upon 
which  civilized  nations  long  ago  agreed  should  govern  belligerents 
when  engaged  in  war. 

The  War  Department  promulgated  a  code  of  rules  for  the  govern 
ment  of  the  army  which  was  prepared  by  Francis  Lieber,  LL.  D.,  an 
eminent  authority  on  international  law.  These  rules  or  instructions 
were  embodied  in  General  Orders  No.  100,  Washington,  April  24, 
1863.  They  are  but  codified  from  the  best  writers  on  the  customs  and 
usages  of  civilized  people  to  be  observed  in  time  of  war.  I  quote 
certain  paragraphs  found  in  section  2  of  the  Orders : 

56.  A  prisoner  of  war  is  subject  to  no  punishment  for  being  a  public  enemy, 
nor  is  any  revenge  to  be  wreaked  upon  him  by  the  intentional  infliction  of  any 
suffering,  or  disgrace,  by  cruel  imprisonment,  want  of  food,  by  mutilation,  death, 
or  any  other  barbarity. 

57.  So   soon  as  a  man  is   armed  by  a  sovereign   government,   and  takes  the 
soldier's    oath    of   fidelity,   he   is   a   belligerent;    his   killing,    wounding,   or   other 
warlike  acts  are  not  individual  crimes  or  offenses.     No  belligerent  has  a  right  to 
declare  that  enemies  of  a  certain  class,  color  or  condition,  when  properly  organized 
as  soldiers,  will  not  be  treated  by  him  as  public  enemies. 


RESUME  AND  COMMENTS.  385 

58.  The  law  of  nations  knows  no  distinction  of  color,  and  if  an  enemy  of  the 
United  States  should  enslave  and  sell  captured  persons  of  their  army,  it  would 
be  a  case  of  the  severest  retaliation,  if  not  redressed  upon  complaint.  The 
United  States  cannot  retaliate  by  enslavement;  therefore,  death  must  be  the' 
retaliation  for  this  crime  against  the  law  of  nations. 

71.  Whoever  intentionally  inflicts  additional  wounds  on  an  enemy  already 
wholly  disabled,  or  kills  such  an  enemy,  or  who  orders  or  encourages  soldiers  to  do 
so,  shall  suffer  death,  if  duly  convicted,  whether  he  belongs  to  the  army  of  the 
United  States,  or  is  an  enemy  captured  after  having  committed  his  misdeed. 

Turn  back  and  read  rule  56  and  reflect  how  flagrantly  and  merci 
lessly  it  was  violated.  Witness  our  brave  men  in  the  stocks  and 
chain-gang  with  heavy  balls  of  iron  riveted  to  their  feet,  suffering 
the  disgrace  and  ignominy  accorded  common  felons;  see  them  blister 
ing  in  the  sun  in  cruel  imprisonment,  without  semblance  of  shelter, 
or  brought  back  torn  by  dogs  when  making  a  justifiable  attempt  to 
escape ;  consider  their  physical  suffering  for  want  of  food  and  water ; 
think  of  all  the  barbarities  to  which  they  were  subjected  in  the  face 
of  the  rule  of  conduct  laid  down  for  belligerents.  Read  again  rules 
57  and  58.  The  law  of  nations  knows  no  distinction  of  color  and  to 
have  enslaved  captured  persons  who  had  taken  the  oath  of  fidelity  to 
the  United  States  and  had  been  armed  by  its  sovereign  authority  as 
soldiers,  was  a  crime  against  the  law  of  nations  and  punishable  by 
death.  We  have  seen  how  captured  negro  soldiers  were  driven  with 
the  last  to  perform  menial  services.  In  a  subsequent  chapter  we  shall 
see  how  serious  a  matter  it  became  to  refuse  them  the  right  of  exchange 
and  to  claim  the  right  to  return  them  to  slavery  when  captured.  Now 
read  rule  71  and  ask  yourself  if  a  case  was  not  made  out  against  Wirz 
and  all  equally  guilty  with  him,  bringing  him  and  them  within  the 
purview  of  the  principle  there  laid  down  ?  These  rules  were  made  for 
the  government  of  the  Federal  army  and  are  cited  to  show  the  re 
straints  which  all  civilized  nations  seek  to  place  upon  their  soldiers 
in  the  field  and  to  hold  them  to  the  observance  of  conduct  in  some 
sort  of  keeping  with  the  demands  of  a  Christian  civilization. 

The  subject  will  be  further  called  to  the  reader's  attention  in  the 
chapter  on  Exchange  of  Prisoners,  as  well  as  elsewhere  in  the  course 
of  these  pages. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

SOMB  INTERESTING  FACTS  AS  TO  THE  PREPARATION  OF  THE  CASE  FOR  TRIAL — PER 
SONNEL  OF  THE  COURT — PROCEEDINGS  AT  CLOSE  OF  THE  TRIAL — JURISDICTION 
OF  THE  COURT  DISCUSSED — THE  LAW  AND  FACTS  AS  TO  CONSPIRACY  STATED — 
EEVIEW  OF  THE  RECORD  BY  THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE-GENERAL — APPROVAL  OF  THE 
SENTENCE  BY  THE  PRESIDENT. —  EXECUTION  OF  THE  SENTENCE  —  LAW  OF 
NATIONS  SYSTEMATICALLY  VIOLATED — CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  PRISONERS 
WHO  WERE  WITNESSES — BURIAL  OF  WIRZ'S  BODY. 

THE  rule  of  procedure  in  military  courts  requires  the  address  of 
the  accused  and  of  the  judge  advocate  to  be  submitted  in  writing, 
the  accused  to  first  address  the  court,  and  the  judge  advocate  to  close. 
When  the  court  called  upon  counsel  for  the  prisoner  to  state  at  what 
time  they  would  be  ready,  they  asked  for  an  adjournment  of  two 
weeks.  The  judge  advocate  stated  that  he  would  be  ready  in  two  days 
after  the  address  of  the  prisoner  was  in  his  hands.  In  criminal  courts 
counsel  are  always  supposed  to  be  ready  to  go  to  the  jury  upon  the 
close  of  the  evidence.  An  adjournment  such  as  was  asked  would  have 
been  without  a  parallel.  The  court  was  of  the  opinion  that  the  time 
asked  by  counsel  was  unreasonable,  and,  after  some  parleying,  offered 
to  give  the  prisoner's  counsel  twelve  days ;  but  they  declined  to  accept 
the  offer,  and  left  him  without  the  benefit  of  their  argument.  Accord 
ing  to  military  usage,  the  duty  was  cast  upon  the  judge  advocate  to 
sum  up  for  both  the  government  and  the  prisoner — a  most  embarrass 
ing  task,  which,  in  view  of  the  circumstances,  was  practically  impos 
sible  for  the  judge  advocate  to  do,  in  fairness  to  the  prisoner.  There 
were  three  stenographic  reporters  of  the  court,  who  were  regularly 
employed  in  the  House  of  Representatives  when  in  session — Mr.  Henry 
G.  Hayes,  Mr.  D.  Wolfe  Brown,  and  Mr.  Nelson  Hinks.  They  were 
among  the  most  accomplished  reporters  of  that  day.  The  judge 
advocate  appointed  Mr.  Hayes  to  assist  the  prisoner  in  the  prepara 
tion  of  his  address  to  the  court,  which  was  accomplished  to  the  satis 
faction  of  Wirz. 

THE  PERSONNEL  OF  THE  COURT. 

General  John  H.  Stibbs,  the  only  surviving  member  of  the  court 
except  myself,  has  recently  published  an  interesting  lecture  which  he 
gave  on  Andersonville  Prison.  In  it  he  makes  reference  to  the  per- 


THE  COUKT  AND  THE  TEIAL.  387 

sonnel  of  the  court,  which  may  interest  the  reader.    I  will  be  pardoned 
for  retaining  what  he  was  pleased  to  say  about  me : 

The  military  commission  that  met  and  tried  Wirz  held  their  sessions  in  the 
Court  of  Claims  rooms  in  the  capitol  building,  Washington,  D.  C.,  and  was  made 
up  as  follows:  At  the  head  of  the  table  sat  Major-General  Lew  Wallace,  the  presi 
dent  of  the  court,  Any  of  you  who  did  not  know  him  must  have  known  of  him. 
He  was  at  that  time  a  man  of  mature  years,  a  lawyer  by  profession,  and  of  recog 
nized  ability.  On  his  right  at  the  table  sat  Major-General  G.  Mott,  who  subse 
quently  became  governor  of  New  Jersey.  He  was  a  man  then  of  forty-five  or  fifty, 
a  lawyer,  and  a  man  of  excellent  judgment  and  discretion.  Opposite  him  sat 
Major-General  Lorenzo  Thomas,  the  adjutant-general  of  the  United  States  army. 
He  was  then  fully  sixty-five  years  of  age,  had  been  for  many  years  connected  with 
the  regular  service,  and  was  an  acknowledged  authority  on  military  law  and  the 
rules  and  usages  of  war.  On  General  Mott's  right  sat  Major-General  John  W. 
Geary,  who,  after  his  discharge  from  the  military  service,  was  made  governor  of  the 
great  state  of  Pennsylvania,  a  man  aged  fifty  or  more,  and  possessed  of  more  than 
ordinary  ability.  Opposite  him  sat  Brigadier-General  Francis  Fessenden,  of  Maine, 
son  of  old  Senator  Fessenden,  a  man  aged  about  thirty-five,  a  lawyer,  and  one  who 
in  every  sense  might  have  been  called  an  educated  gentleman.  On  General  Geary's 
right  sat  Brevet-Brigadier-General  John  F.  Ballier,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  an 
educated  German,  aged  fifty  or  more,  and  who  had  commanded  the  98th  Penn 
sylvania  Infantry.  On  his  right  sat  Brevet-Colonel  T.  Allcock,  of  New  York, 
a  man  of  forty  or  more,  and  a  distinguished  artillery  officer;  and  finally,  on  the 
opposite  side  of  the  table,  was  placed  the  boy  member,  your  humble  servant. 
Possibly  it  might  have  been  truthfully  said  of  me  that  I  was  too  young  and  inex 
perienced  to  fill  so  important  a  position,  I  being  then  only  in  my  twenty-sixth  year ; 
but  I  had  seen  four  years  of  actual  warfare,  had  successfully  commanded  a  regi 
ment  of  Iowa  men,  and  I  thought  then,  as  I  think  now,  that  I  was  a  competent 
juror.  The  judge  advocate  of  the  commission  was  Colonel  N.  P.  Chipman,  who 
early  in  the  war  served  as  major  of  the  2d  Iowa  Infantry.  He  was  severely 
wounded  at  Fort  Donnelson  in  February,  1862.  When  sufficiently  recovered  to 
return  to  duty  he  was  promoted  and  became  chief  of  staff  for  General  S.  E.  Curtis, 
and  later  on  was  placed  on  duty  in  Washington.  He  was  a  lawyer  by  profession,  a 
man  of  superior  education  and  refinement,  and  withal  one  of  the  most  genial,  kind- 
hearted,  companionable  men  I  have  ever  had  the  good  fortune  to  meet. 

The  average,  good,  level-headed  citizen,  while  considering  the  verdicts  rendered 
in  an  ordinary  criminal  case,  is  generally  ready  to  say,  "The  jury  are  the  best 
judges  of  the  evidence;  they  heard  it  all  as  it  was  given,  had  an  opportunity  to 
judge  of  its  value  and  estimate  the  credibility  of  the  witnesses,  and  their  judg 
ment  should  be  accepted  as  correct  and  final."  It  seems  to  me  the  American 
people,  and  especially  the  future  historian,  should  be  equally  fair  in  dealing  with 
the  Wirz  commission,  and  I  believe  they  will,  as  I  do  not  see  how  it  would  be  pos 
sible  for  an  intelligent,  unprejudiced,  fair-minded  reviewer  to  conclude  that  such 
a  court  could  or  would  have  rendered  a  verdict  that  was  not  in  full  accord  with 
the  evidence  presented.  I  assure  you  no  attempt  was  made  to  dictate  or  influence 
our  verdict,  and,  furthermore,  there  was  no  power  on  earth  that  could  have 


388  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONV1LLE. 

swerved  us  from  the  discharge  of  our  sworn  duty  as  we  saw  it.  Our  verdict  was 
unanimous;  there  were  no  dissenting  opinions,  and  for  myself  I  can  say  that  there 
has  been  no  time  during  the  forty-five  years  that  have  intervened  since  this  trial 
was  held  when  I  have  felt  that  I  owed  an  apology  to  any  one,  not  even  to  the 
Almighty,  for  having  voted  to  hang  Henry  Wirz  by  the  neck  until  he  was  dead. 

The  trial  was  a  long  one  and  taxed  the  physical  and  nervous  forces 
of  all  who  took  active  part  in  it  to  the  verge  of  exhaustion.  The 
preparation  of  the  case  for  trial  was  itself  a  great  labor.  An  extensive 
correspondence  in  all  parts  of  the  Union  became  necessary,  and  it  was 
largely  through  this  means  that  much  important  evidence  was  obtained. 
It  may  be  of  interest  to  the  reader  to  relate  two  or  three  instances. 
The  report  of  Dr.  Jones  came  to  my  knowledge  by  the  merest  accident. 
I  learned  that  he  had  visited  Andersonville  and  had  a  report  ready  for 
delivery.  I  sent  an  officer  to  his  home  in  Georgia  writh  instructions  to 
subpoena  him  and  to  make  sure  to  get  possession  of  the  report.  In 
both  he  was  successful,  Dr.  Jones  making  no  attempt  to  conceal  or 
destroy  the  document  so  anxiously  desired. 

The  report  of  Colonel  Chandler,  another  most  important  document, 
was  picked  up  in  the  streets  of  Richmond  and  carried  home  by  a 
Union  soldier  as  a  souvenir  of  the  war.  This  I  traced  with  some  diffi 
culty,  and  it  was  fully  identified,  and  its  use  by  the  rebel  government 
clearly  shown. 

The  letter  of  Robert  Ould,  in  which,  speaking  of  the  effect  of  his 
policy  as  commissioner  of  exchange,  he  said  they  were  getting  rid  of  a 
lot  of  miserable  wretches  (victims  of  Libby  and  Belle  Isle)  and  receiv 
ing  in  exchange  some  of  the  best  material  he  ever  saw,  was  first  brought 
to  my  attention  by  General  Benj.  F.  Butler,  who  had  had  much  to  do 
with  Colonel  Ould  in  matters  of  exchange.  After  considerable  corre 
spondence,  I  traced  the  letter  to  the  hands  of  Samuel  F.  Hunt,  at 
that  time  living  I  think  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  through  him  it  was 
brought  to  the  light. 

It  is  due  the  prosecution  to  explain  somewhat  further  the  course 
pursued  in  subpoenaing  witnesses  for  the  government.  When  it  be 
came  generally  known  that  Wirz  was  under  arrest  at  Washington, 
to  be  tried  for  his  complicity  in  the  sufferings  at  Andersonville,  and 
that  I  was  to  have  charge  of  the  case,  hundreds  of  letters  came  pouring 
in  from  all  parts  of  the  North  filled  with  accounts  of  personal  experi 
ences  and  personal  observations. 

It  was  known  at  Washington  that  there  had  been  great  suffering 
at  Andersonville,  but  the  full  extent  of  it  was  not  known,  as  the  suffer- 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TEIAL.  389 

ings  at  Libby  and  Belle  Isle  were  known,  until  the  close  of  hostilities 
and  the  prisoners  began  to  return  in  large  numbers.  Their  condition 
was  such  as  to  challenge  inquiry,  and  this  inquiry  led  to  the  arrest 
of  Wirz,  and,  through  correspondence  with  the  prisoners,  I  learned 
not  only  of  the  general  facts  but  of  the  personal  acts  of  cruelty  and  the 
personal  responsibility  of  Wirz.  Before  subpoenaing  witnesses  of  this 
class  I  required  of  them  a  statement  verified  by  their  affidavit  of  the 
facts  they  could  testify  to.  From  these  statements  I  selected  and 
subpoenaed  the  persons  who  seemed  to  relate  the  facts  with  least 
apparent  bias. 

Upon  the  principal  facts,  aside  from  the  charge  of  murder,  the 
evidence  was  cumulative  and  might  well  have  been  greatly  shortened. 
But  the  facts  were  so  startling,  and  in  some  respects  so  apparently 
unbelievable,  exhibiting  treatment  of  our  soldiers  in  a  manner  so 
atrocious,  that  I  was  unwilling  to  rest  the  case  short  of  proofs  irrefrag- 
ible  and  impossible  of  refutation  in  the  future.  The  wisdom  of  thus 
fortifying  the  record,  if  at  the  time  thought  unnecessary,  is  now  mani 
fest,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  a  respectable  body  of  citizens  has  recently 
in  the  most  public  manner  denied  that  the  verdict  spread  upon  the 
record  in  the  Wirz  trial  has  any  basis  of  truth. 

THE  JURISDICTION   OF  THE  MILITARY   COMMISSION SOME  PRINCIPLES  OF 

LAW  GOVERNING  TRIALS  FOR  CONSPIRACY  TO  COMMIT  CRIME — THE 
EVIDENCE  OF  CONSPIRACY  AS  REVIEWED  BY  JUDGE  ADVOCATE. 

Before  reaching  the  concluding  pages  of  this  remarkable  and  im 
portant  trial,  the  reader  should  be  given  some  answer  to  the  inscription 
placed  upon  the  Wirz  monument — that  he  was  tried  by  an  illegal  court. 
In  the  proceedings  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  as  shown  on 
preceding  pages,  it  was  declared  that  Wirz  "was  judicially  murdered." 
This  very  grave  charge  rests  alone  on  the  claim  that  the  court  was 
without  authority  to  try  the  prisoner.  In  the  earlier  pages  of  this 
volume  the  circumstances  attending  the  arrest  of  Wirz  were  fully 
given,  showing  that  there  was  no  violation  of  any  parole  or  promise  by 
the  government.  The  point  now  to  be  considered  is,  Had  the  court 
any  authority  to  try  Wirz  for  the  alleged  crimes  ? 

I  will  content  myself  with  some  extracts  from  the  argument  of  the 
judge  advocate  made  to  the  court,1  to  show  that  the  power  is  the  same 
as  that  exercised,  about  the  same  time,  by  the  military  commission 
which  tried  the  assassins  of  President  Lincoln : 

:ord,  p.  723  et  seq. 


390  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

JURISDICTION    OF    THE    COURT. 

Among  the  numerous  special  pleas  filed  by  the  counsel,  denying  the  right  of  the 
court  to  try  the  prisoner,  there  is  but  one,  I  believe,  which  has  not  been  abandoned. 
This  is  the  plea  to  the  jurisdiction. 

I  can  hardly  suppose  that  any  member  of  this  commission  entertains  a  doubt  on 
this  point;  yet  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  pass  unnoticed  a  question  so  seriously 
made,  and  about  which  honest  and  loyal  men  differ.  If  there  be  neither  law,  safe 
precedent,  nor  right,  upon  which  to  base  this  proceeding,  then  it  is  a  serious  as 
sumption  of  power,  and  alike  dangerous  to  yourselves  and  the  prisoner,  and  one 
in  the  exercise  of  which  the  order  of  his  excellency  the  president  will  not  protect 
you.  While  I  have  yet  to  read  the  adverse  opinion  of  a  single  lawyer  given  outside 
the  court-room,  who  speaks  from  the  standpoint  of  one  who  knows  from  the  teach 
ings  of  experience  how  strong  has  been,  and  is  still,  the  necessity  of  checking  and 
punishing  crimes  against  the  laws  of  war,  committed  in  rebellious  districts,  during 
and  in  aid  of  rebellion  against  the  government,  yet  it  must  be  conceded  that  there 
is  a  color  of  reason  in  the  argument,  and  it  is  because  with  great  persistency  your 
right  to  proceed  is  denied  that  I  shall  presume  to  address  myself  to  this  question. 

As  we  recede  from  a  state  of  actual  war  and  approach  a  condition  of  profound 
peace,  we  doubtless  travel  away  from  the  corner-stone  upon  which  the  military 
commission  as  a  judicial  tribunal  rests;  but  that  your  right  to  try  the  case  before 
you  is  disturbed  by  a  mere  suspension  of  hostilities  on  the  part  of  rebels  in  the 
field,  while  the  spirit  of  rebellion  is  still  rampant,  I  do  not  for  a  moment  suppose, 
and  in  a  very  brief  resume  of  the  argument  on  the  subject  I  hope  to  make  it  so 
appear.  As  I  view  this  question  of  jurisdiction,  it  is  one  of  both  law  and  fact,  to 
determine  which  each  case  must  rest  upon  its  own  merits.  It  involves  a  question 
of  law  in  determining  whether  a  court  of  this  kind  can  be  legally  constituted,  and 
a  question  of  fact  as  to  whether  the  present  case  can  be  thus  tried;  for  a  military 
court  may  be  properly  constituted,  yet  the  case  brought  before  it  not  properly 
triable  by  it. 

If  this  be  true,  the  subject  may  be  disposed  of  in  the  examination  of  the  follow 
ing  questions:  1st.  Has  the  president  of  the  United  States  the  constitutional  power 
to  convene  a  military  commission  for  the  trial  of  military  offenses  committed  in 
time  of  war?  2d.  Is  this  case  triable  by  military  commission1? 

First.  I  believe  it  is  not  claimed  by  any  that  the  power  assumed  by  the  president 
in  convening  this  commission  for  the  purpose  named  in  the  order  dwells  in  him,  ex 
cept  in  time  of  war  and  great  public  danger,  or  during  insurrection  or  rebellion. 
Your  jurisdiction  is  a  special  one,  resting  upon  no  written  law,  but  derived  wholly 
from  the  war  powers  of  the  president  and  Congress,  which  are  themselves  of  course 
derivable  from  the  constitution.  If  it  can  be  shown  to  safely  rest  upon  these,  you 
become  invested  not  only  with  a  right  but  with  a  high  duty  to  sustain  it  in 
obedience  to  the  proper  order  of  your  commander-in-chief. 

On  an  examination  of  the  opinions  expressed  against  the  right  claimed,  you  will 
discover  the  whole  argument  to  rest  upon  the  negative  declarations  or  prohibitory 
clauses  of  our  fundamental  law,  denying  to  Congress  the  exercise  of  certain  powers, 
as  for  example:  "No  person  shall  be  held  to  answer  for  a  capital  or  otherwise 
infamous  crime  unless  on  presentment  or  indictment  of  a  grand  jury,"  &c. ;  "in 
all  criminal  prosecutions  the  accused  shall  enjoy  the  right  of  a  speedy  and  public 


THE  COUKT  AND  THE  TKIAL.  391 

trial  by  an  impartial  jury/'  &e.  (Amend.  Const.,  arts.  Y,  VI.)  "The  trial  of  all 
crimes,  except  in  cases  of  impeachment,  shall  be  by  jury."  (Const.,  art.  IT,  sec.  2.) 
Whatever  else  may  be  brought  into  the  argument,  these  and  kindred  clauses  are  the 
real  source  of  complaint  whence  a  misguided  loyalty,  a  super-technical  judgment, 
have  found  reason  for  withholding  their  approval  of  the  measures  adopted  by  the 
government  through  the  military  commission,  to  aid  in  suppressing  a  rebellion  for 
its  overthrow.  And  hence  you  are  told  gravely  the  act  of  the  president  is  a  usur 
pation  of  power,  this  court  without  a  legal  existence,  your  proceedings  a  nullity. 

For  a  moment,  let  us  try  and  ascertain  the  purpose  of  those  who  framed  the 
constitution,  and  by  fair  interpretation  arrive  at  the  true  meaning  of  that  great 
chart  of  liberty. 

Alexander  Hamilton  wrote  at  the  time  the  constitution  was  being  canvassed 
before  the  people  for  final  adoption :  "The  circumstances  that  endanger  the  safety 
of  nations  are  infinite,  and  for  this  reason  no  constitutional  shackles  can  wisely 
be  imposed  on  the  power  to  which  the  care  of  it  is  committed.  .  .  .  This  is  one  of 
those  truths  which  to  a  correct  and  unprejudiced  mind  carries  its  own  evidence 
along  with  it,  and  may  be  obscured,  but  cannot  be  made  plainer  by  argument  or 
reasoning.  The  means  ought  to  be  proportioned  to  the  end,  the  persons  from  whose 
agency  the  attainment  of  any  end  is  expected,  ought  to  possess  the  means  by 
which  it  is  to  be  attained."  (Federalist,  No.  23.) 

Mr.  Madison,  in  speaking  of  the  impossibility  of  anticipating  the  exigencies 
which  might  arise,  and  the  futility  of  legislating  for  what  could  not  be  anticipated, 
at  the  same  time  insisting  that  the  powers  as  granted  to  the  president  and  Con 
gress  are  now  ample  for  every  emergency,  says :  "It  is  vain  to  impose  constitutional 
barriers  to  the  impulse  of  self-preservation.  It  is  worse  than  in  vain,  because  it 
plants  in  the  constitution  itself  necessary  usurpation  of  power."  (Federalist, 
No.  41.) 

Many  years  later,  and  after  its  adoption,  with  such  light  flooded  upon  it  as  the 
great  minds  of  those  early  days  could  shed,  Mr.  Adams,  in  unequivocal  phrase, 
enunciated  the  same  idea.  In  speaking  of  the  authority  of  Congress  in  time  of 
war,  he  says:  "All  the  powers  incident  to  war  are,  by  necessary  implication,  con 
ferred  upon  the  government  of  the  United  States.  .  .  .  There  are  then,  in  the 
authority  of  Congress  and  of  the  executive,  two  classes  of  powers,  altogether  dif 
ferent  in  their  nature  and  often  incompatible  with  each  other,  the  war  power  and 
the  peace  power.  The  peace  power  is  limited  by  regulations  and  restricted  by 
provisions  prescribed  within  the  constitution  itself.  The  war  power  is  limited  only 
"by  the  laws  and  usages  of  nations.  This  power  is  tremendous;  it  is  strictly  con 
stitutional,  but  it  breaks  down  every  barrier  so  anxiously  erected  for  the  protection 
of  liberty,  of  property,  and  of  life." 

These  are  bold  words,  uttered  when  Civil  War  was  not  impending,  when  a  power 
ful  rebellion  to  overthrow  this  great  nation  could  hardly  have  been  anticipated; 
the  opinion  of  a  great  mind  and  a  pure  patriot,  with  judgment  free  from  the 
tyranny  of  partisan  clamor,  they  come  to  us  with  all  the  force  of  law  itself. 

Do  you  find  difficulty  in  reconciling  these  constitutional  incompatibilities?  Your 
statute  punishes  assault  and  battery,  yet  a  law  underlying  the  statute,  not  ex 
pressed,  says  you  may  resist  force  with  force;  and  this  well-grounded  rule  will 
allow  you  to  defend  yourself  even  to  the  slaying  of  your  antagonist.  Necessity 


392  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

knows  no  law  inadequate  to  its  demands,  and  self-preservation  antedates  all  law. 
Who  shall  say  that  a  government  in  whose  perpetuation  rest  the  hopes  of  the 
world,  a  constitution  broad  enough  and  liberal  enough  to  protect  the  rights  of  all 
over  whom  it  reaches — a  people  whose  confidence  in  the  perfection  of  their  form  of 
government  four  years  of  internecine  war  have  not  shaken — who  shall  say  that 
these  are  denied  nature's  first  law?  No,  these  law-givers  and  wise  men  of  olden 
and  modern  times  spoke  truly  when  they  laid  down  the  doctrine  that  the  principle 
of  self-preservation  belongs  to  nations  no  less  than  to  individuals,  and  that  it  is 
not  in  the  power  of  a  nation  to  code  away  this  right. 

The  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  has,  in  numerous  decisions,  declared  that 
Congress  and  the  executive  possess  the  right  to  do  whatever  the  public  safety  may 
require  to  suppress  rebellion  or  repel  invasion.  (4  Wheaton,  420;  12  Wheaton, 
119-128;  8  Cranch,  15.)  This  opinion  was  entertained  by  the  fathers  of  the  con 
stitution  and  is  found  embodied  in  congressional  legislation  as  early  as  1792, 
reiterated  in  1795  and  1807,  which  seem  to  have  been  statutes  made  to  meet  just 
such  emergencies  as  this  war  brought  upon  us.  (See  1  Stat.  L.,  pp.  264,  424; 
2  Stat.  L.,  p.  419.) 

In  12  Wheaton  (Martin  vs.  Mott)  Mr.  Justice  Story,  in  an  opinion  sustaining 
the  constitutionality  of  these  laws,  says:  "The  president  is  the  exclusive  judge 
of  the  exigency,  and  his  action  must  be  conclusive  of  the  exigency."  Thus  taking 
from  the  supreme  court  the  right  to  impeach  the  president's  judgment.  This  same 
opinion  is  sustained  in  Luther  vs.  Borden,  7  Howard,  42-43. 

I  suppose  it  will  not  be  denied  that  war  changes  the  relations  of  all  parties 
brought  into  antagonism  as  belligerents  by  it.  No  one  can  attack  me  without  for 
feiting  his  right  for  redress  if  I  injure  him  by  proper  resistance  without  resorting 
to  the  forms  of  law  to  make  him  keep  the  peace;  and  no  one  can  levy  war  upon 
our  government  without  placing  himself  beyond  the  aegis  of  the  constitution. 

It  must  be  remembered  when  objection  is  made  to  the  exercise  of  this  necessary 
power  of  the  president  that  what  might  be  a  good  plea  for  a  loyal  citizen  who 
has  committed  a  civil  offense  against  the  criminal  statutes  of  the  land  is  not  a 
good  plea  for  a  traitor  who  is  on  trial  for  the  commission  of  a  military  offense 
against  the  laws  of  war. 

As  we  are  endeavoring  to  determine  whether  the  president  can  by  right  exercise 
the  power  to  organize  a  court  for  the  trial  of  military  offenses  committed  by  those 
not  in  the  military  service,  it  may  not  be  necessary  to  pursue  this  line  of  argu 
ment  further.  Let  me,  however,  place  by  antithesis  some  things  expressly  pro 
hibited  in  the  constitution,  but  which  it  is  generally  conceded  may  be  done  in 
time  of  war. 

"The  United  States  shall  guarantee  to  every  state  a  republican  form  of  govern 
ment,  .  .  .  and  shall  protect  each  of  them  against  invasion,"  (Const.,  art.  IV, 
sec.  4)  ;  yet  the  whole  power  of  the  government  has  been  concentrated  in  one 
grand  invasion  of  the  South  for  four  years. 

"The  right  of  the  people  to  be  secure  in  their  persons,  houses,  papers,  [&c.,] 
against  search,  [&e.,]  shall  not- be  violated;  and  no  warrant  shall  issue,  but  upon 
probable  cause,  supported  by  oath,"  &c.,  (Amend.  Const.,  art.  IV;)  yet,  I  sus 
pect,  an  action  of  trespass  would  not  lie  against  the  officer  who  broke  open  certain 


THE  COUET  AND  THE  TEIAL.  393 

escritoires,  bringing  to  light  the  proofs  of  conspiracies  entered  into  by  leading 
rebels  South  and  North  to  poison,  burn,  and  assassinate. 

"No  soldier  in  time  of  war  shall  be  quartered  in  any  house  without  the  consent 
of  the  owner,  but  in  a  manner  to  be  prescribed  by  law,"  (Amend.  Const.,  art. 
Ill;)  yet  it  was  hardly  expected  that  our  generals  in  an  enemy's  country  would 
consult  the  statutes  "in  such  case  made  and  provided." 

"The  right  of  the  people  to  keep  and  bear  arms  shall  not  be  infringed,"  (Ibid., 
art.  I;)  yet  the  general  or  executive  who  would,  fearing  to  violate  this  right, 
permit  the  Knights  of  the  Golden  Circle,  or  any  other  hostile  combination,  to 
organize  or  menace  the  government  could  hardly  defend  himself  before  his  country. 

"The  freedom  of  speech  shall  not  be  abridged,"  (Ibid.,  art.  I;)  yet  who  would 
hesitate  to  say  that  the  inciter  of  treason  by  speech  is  no  less  a  traitor  than  he 
who  raises  his  hand  against  the  government? 

"Private  property  shall  not  be  taken  without  just  compensation,"  (Ibid.,  art. 
V;)  yet  during  the  Eebellion  millions  of  dollars'  worth  have  been  seized  and 
used  for  military  purposes  without  any  process  of  law  whatever,  and  millions  more 
have  been  libelled  under  the  confiscation  act  of  Congress  and  converted  to  public 
use  without  just  compensation. 

Who  so  bold  as  to  deny  the  principle  upon  which  this  has  been  done? 

Article  IV,  section  11  of  the  constitution  provides  for  the  recapture  of  slaves 
escaping  to  free  states,  and,  the  supreme  court  of  the  United  States  has  said,  also 
pledges  the  Federal  government  to  protect  the  rights  thus  secured  to  slave-owners: 
against  and  in  violation  of  which  rises  like  a  pillar  of  fire  the  proclamation  of 
freedom,  apotheosizing  its  author — the  crowning  glory  of  his  administration; 
the  highest  proof  that  our  cause  is  approved  in  the  forum  conscientice. 

How  can  there  be  such  antagonisms  in  our  magna  cJiarta?  How  are  these  things 
defensible?  They  are  the  "incompatibilities"  of  which  Mr.  Madison  speaks.  We 
see  here  the  harmony,  at  the  same  time,  the  conflicts  between  the  war  powers  and 
the  peace  powers  of  which  Mr.  Adams  speaks,  and  there  is  presented  in  strong 
light  the  adaptation  of  means  to  ends,  which  Mr.  Hamilton  insists  upon;  and 
above  all,  that  inherent  power  which  spurns  all  barriers  and  grounds  itself  upon 
great  first  principles,  dwells  always  with  the  source  of  all  power  and  is  inseparable 
from  it — the  people — and  declares  as  fearlessly  as  it  battles,  that  in  times  of  war 
and  great  public  danger  laws  and  constitutions  are  silent  if  they  stand  in  the  way 
of  the  nation's  life. 

But  it  is  said  that  Congress  may  have  the  power  to  create  military  commissions, 
yet  as  it  has  not  done  so,  or  conferred  that  right  upon  the  president,  it  is,  there 
fore,  an  unwarrantable  assumption. 

It  seems  to  me  that,  as  the  constitution  expressly  confers  no  power  of  this 
kind  upon  Congress,  it  matters  little  whether  Congress  or  the  president  exercise 
it;  and  if  one  can  do  so,  with  equal  right  can  the  other.  The  whole  question  still 
rests  upon  necessity,  to  meet  which  the  neglect  of  one  will  not  excuse  the  other. 
Still,  inquiring  whether  this  can  be  done  in  any  case,  let  us  recur  a  moment  to 
opinions  cotemporaneous  with  the  constitution. 

We  began  our  struggle  for  independence  under  the  articles  of  confederation, 
and  it  is  well  known  that  the  colonies  reserved  all  rights  to  themselves,  not 
expressly  delegated  to  the  Confederacy.  Then,  as  now/  there  were  traitors,  whose 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  OHIO. 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TEIAL.  395 

crimes  partaking  of  the  nature  of  military  offenses,  were  made  punishable  by 
military  courts.  If  you  will  examine  the  legislation  of  the  country,  it  will  be 
found  that  from  1775  down  to  the  present  time,  authority  has  been  conferred 
upon  military  courts  to  try  civilians  for  the  commission  of  certain  offenses.  (See 
acts  of  Congress,  7th  November,  1775;  17th  June,  1776;  27th  February,  1778; 
23d  April,  1800;  10th  April,  1806;  13th  February,  1862;  17th  July,  1862.)  Con 
gress  conferred  this  jurisdiction  on  both  courts-martial  and  military  commission, 
until  during  this  war,  however,  resorting  to  the  court-martial. 

Now,  it  has  been  frequently  decided  by  the  supreme  court  that  a  court-martial 
is  a  tribunal  provided  for  in  the  rules  and  articles  of  war,  but  with  a  jurisdiction 
limited  to  military  persons,  as  well  as  military  offenses,  so  that  it  is  as  much  a 
usurpation  to  try  a  civilian  by  court-martial  as  before  a  military  commission. 

Admitting  this,  we  find  ourselves  strongly  fortified  by  those  early  enactments, 
especially  in  the  light  of  the  decisions  of  the  supreme  court.  Stewart  vs.  Laird 
(1  Cranch,  299)  decides  that  "a  cotemporary  exposition  or  construction  of  the 
constitution  acquiesced  in  for  a  period  of  years  fixes  it  beyond  the  reach  of 
doubt,"  and  we  are  compelled  to  conclude  that  the  power  assumed  grows  out  of 
a  necessity  of  which  Congress  or  the  president  must  judge  at  the  time. 

Many  things  are  proper  to  be  done  in  time  of  war,  which  in  time  of  peace  be 
come  high  crimes.  No  criminal  code  and  no  civil  criminal  tribunal  can  reach 
these;  they  are  incident  to  and  grow  out  of  a  state  of  war. 

Every  student  of  history,  whether  or  not  he  may  have  studied  law,  understands 
this.  It  is  a  timid  loyalty,  a  yielding  to  doubtful  and  hasty  clamor,  that,  during 
this  war,  questioned  a  practice  sanctioned  by  all  nations  and  which  began  on  this 
continent  contemporary  with  the  constitution. 

But,  again,  a  declaration  of  war  institutes  a  code  of  laws  for  the  government 
of  the  belligerents,  known  as  the  laws  of  nations.  And  this  is  true  of  an  insur 
rection,  as  well  as  of  a  foreign  war,  so  that  we  are  to  look  more  to  the  custom 
of  nations  than  to  our  own  constitution  for  guides.  We  have  enumerated  some 
of  our  constitutional  guarantees  intended  to  protect  all  persons,  but  it  will  hardly 
be  pretended  that  rebels,  traitors,  assassins  in  aid  of  rebellion,  banditti, 
guerrillas,  and  spies,  could  plead  them  or  derive  any  immunity  by  them.  The 
true  guide  and  the  higher  law  is  the  law  of  war  and  the  customs  of  civilized 
nations.  From  a  recent  opinion  of  the  present  attorney-general,  given  in  support 
of  the  commission  for  the  trial  of  the  president's  assassins,  taking  this  view,  I 
extract  the  following:  "A  military  tribunal  exists  under  and  according  to  the 
constitution  in  time  of  war.  Congress  may  prescribe  how  all  such  tribunals  are 
to  be  constituted,  what  shall  be  their  jurisdiction  and  mode  of  procedure.  Should 
Congress  fail  to  create  such  tribunals,  then,  under  the  constitution,  they  must  be 
constituted  according  to  the  laws  and  usages  of  civilized  warfare,  and  they  may 
take  cognizance  of  such  offenses  as  the  laws  of  war  permit.  That  the  laws  of 
nations  constitute  a  part  of  the  laws  of  the  land  is  established  from  the  face  of 
the  constitution,  upon  principle  and  by  authority."  (See,  also,  1  Opinions  of 
Attorneys-General,  p.  27;  5  Wheaton,  153.) 

He  then  proceeds  to  show  that  an  army  has  to  deal  with  two  classes  of  enemies, 
one  of  which  is  the  open  active  belligerent  or  soldier  in  uniform,  who  observes 
the  law  of  war;  the  other  is  a  violator  of  the  laws  of  war,  and  usages  of  civilized 


396  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONV1LLE. 

nations,  who,  when  caught,  may  be  shot  down  as  an  enemy  to  the  human  race,  or 
tried  by  military  courts  and  subjected  to  such  punishment  as  the  laws  of  war 
authorize.  Here,  as  before,  we  see  that  the  only  safe  rule  is  to  place  in  the 
hands  of  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  army,  or  his  subordinates  acting  under 
proper  orders,  full  and  exclusive  discretion  as  to  the  means  to  be  used  to  protect 
the  existence  of  his  army,  subject  only  to  be  held  responsible  for  the  abuse  of 
the  discretion  so  conferred.  And  whether  he  resort  to  military  commission,  court- 
martial,  drumhead  court,  summary  and  instantaneous  execution,  right,  reason, 
and  wise  public  policy  must  sustain  him  so  long  as  he  keeps  within  the  code  of 
civilized  nations. 

I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  notice  the  distinction  made  between  martial 
law  and  military  law,  your  guide  being,  as  I  conceive  it,  the  law  of  nations  rather 
than  either.  I  might  remark,  however,  that  military  law  is  a  part  of  the  law  of 
the  land  in  times  of  peace  and  war;  but  martial  law  is  an  incident  of  war,  and 
may  or  may  not  be  declared.  I  do  not  rest  your  right,  however,  to  sit  as  a  mili 
tary  commission,  upon  the  action  of  the  president  in  this  particular.  He  may 
not  have  declared  martial  law  to  be  in  force,  still  your  existence  be  legal.  He 
may  not  have  suspended  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  still  your  jurisdiction  be  un 
disturbed.  To  declare  martial  law  is  one  act  of  the  war  power;  to  suspend  the 
writ  of  habeas  corpus  another;  to  order  this  court  to  try  the  prisoner  before  it, 
another. 

It  is  an  error  to  suppose  there  must  be  an  enemy  menacing  you  pendente  lite, 
a  declaration  of  war,  a  suspension  of  trial  by  civil  tribunal  before  you  can  pro 
ceed.  The  civil  courts  may  be  in  never  so  complete  operation,  the  enemy  in  a 
remote  part  of  the  country,  and  the  place  of  trial  in  the  midst  of  a  peaceful  por 
tion  of  the  land;  still,  if  there  be  a  necessity,  and  the  offense  be  properly  punish 
able  by  the  laws  of  war,  the  duty  at  once  falls  upon  the  proper  officer  to  meet 
that  necessity  as  the  public  safety  may  require.  I  believe  this  view  to  be  sus 
tained  by  the  best  military  writers,  and  a  legitimate  sequence  of  the  argument 
in  support  of  military  commissions.  The  practice  of  European  powers  confirms 
this  opinion,  the  right  having  never  been  seriously  questioned,  but  its  abuse  being 
provided  for  by  bills  of  indemnity. 

If  further  precedent  be  required  it  is  amply  presented  in  the  action  of  President 
Washington  during  the  "whiskey  insurrection"  of  1794  and  1795 ;  of  President 
Jefferson  during  the  Burr  conspiracy  of  1806;  of  General  Jackson  in  1814,  at 
New  Orleans,  and  afterwards  in  Florida,  in  all  of  which  cases,  though  of  infinitely 
less  moment  compared  with  the  exigencies  growing  out  of  the  present  war,  it 
was  enunciated  that  whatever  the  existing  necessity  demands  must  be  done.  (See 
Halleck's  International  Law,  pp.  371,  380,  and  cases  cited.) 

Second.  Having  presented  sufficient  reasons  for  concluding  that  the  president 
has  usurped  no  authority  and  violated  no  law  in  constituting  you  a  military  court 
for  the  trial  of  military  offenses,  it  remains  to  notice  whether  the  present  case 
comes  within  the  scope  of  your  jurisdiction.  Here  I  think  we  will  have  less 
difficulty,  as  it  is  more  a  question  of  fact  than  law. 

This  prisoner  is  charged  with  the  perpetration  of  offenses  many  of  them  un 
known  to  common  law  or  statute  law;  they  were  committed  by  a  belligerent,  in 
his  own  territory,  in  the  exercise  of  a  commission  assigned  him  by  the  enemy, 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TKIAL.  397 

and  in  the  execution  of  the  orders  of  his  superiors,  given  in  violation  of  the  laws 
of  war. 

The  government  he  served  never  did  and  never  can  try  him;  no  civil  tribunal 
is  possessed  of  power;  the  duty  then,  as  I  think,  devolves  upon  you.  But  it  is 
said  the  war  is  over,  there  is  no  longer  any  necessity  for  military  tribunals,  and 
however  proper  in  times  of  war  and  public  danger  to  assume  the  functions  of 
civil  courts,  there  is  now  no  reason  for  doing  so. 

If  it  were  necessary  I  would  traverse  the  fact.  The  war  is  not  over.  True, 
the  muskets  of  treason  are  stacked;  the  armies  of  the  Rebellion  are  dissolved, 
some  of  the  leaders  are  in  exile,  others  are  in  prison ;  but  by  far  the  largest  portion, 
sullen,  silent,  vengeful,  stand  ready  to  seize  every  opportunity  to  divide  the  loyal 
sentiment  of  the  country  and  with  spirit  unbroken  and  defiant,  would  this  day 
raise  the  standard  of  rebellion  if  they  dared  hope  for  success.  This  opinion  of 
the  war  still  existing  is  not  mine  alone.  The  attorney-general  in  his  return  to 
Judge  Wylie's  writ  of  habeas  corpus,  issued  for  the  surrender  of  the  body  of 
Mrs.  Surratt,  spoke  of  it  in  that  sense.* 

Congress  in  many  of  its  enactments  provided  for  a  state  of  war  after  a  cessa 
tion  of  hostilities.  The  whole  policy  of  the  government  towards  the  Southern 
states  sustains  this  idea. 

The  president,  by  suspending  Judge  Wylie's  writ  in  the  Burch  case  on  the 
16th  of  September,  since  this  trial  began,  his  adherence  to  President  Lincoln's 
proclamation  of  martial  law,  and  his  declining  to  take  any  action  that  might  be 
construed  into  a  proclamation  of  peace,  all  show  beyond  doubt  that  the  time  of 
public  danger  has  not  passed.  But,  however  this  may  be,  with  the  fact  you  have 
nothing  to  do.  The  president,  by  constituting  you  a  court  to  try  this  prisoner, 
has,  by  that  act  alone,  declared  the  presence  of  a  public  danger,  and  that  a 
necessity  exists  to  still  cling  to  military  tribunals  for  the  punishment  of  military 
offenses;  and  it  is  beyond  your  power  to  dispute  his  judgment.  You  may  per 
haps  pass  upon  the  question  as  to  whether  you  are  a  court,  but  as  to  the  emer 
gency  requiring  you  to  try  and  punish  this  prisoner  if  guilty,  the  president  is 
the  sole  judge.  The  supreme  court  has  so  decided,  as  we  have  before  seen. 

I  hope  then,  gentlemen,  you  may  find  it  not  against  your  consciences  or  judgment 
to  proceed  to  a  final  verdict  in  this  case,  and  that  you  may  illustrate  the  wisdom 
expressed  in  the  judicial  opinion  of  one  of  our  most  eminent  jurists,  given  in  4 
Wheaton,  316:  "The  government  of  the  Union  is  a  government  of  the  people,  it 
emanates  from  them,  its  powers  are  granted  by  them,  and  are  to  be  exercised 
for  their  benefit;  and  the  government  which  has  a  right  to  do  and  act,  and  has 
imposed  upon  it  the  duty  of  performing  the  act,  must,  according  to  the  dictatea 
of  reason,  be  allowed  to  select  the  means."2 

SOME  OBJECTIONS  BY  THE  PRISONER  NOTICED — A  FAIR  TRIAL  WAS  GIVEN" 

HIM. 

Having  thus  disposed  of  the  question  of  jurisdiction,  I  ask  indulgence  a  moment 
to  notice  some  of  the  objections  which  have  been  made  by  the  counsel  for  the 
prisoner  in  the  progress  of  the  trial. 

1  In  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia. 

2  Was  not  Chief  Justice  Marshall  the  first  person  to  announce  that  this  is  "a  government  of 
the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people?" 


398  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

1  am  not  prepared  to  believe  that  this  court  would  stultify  itself  by  declaring 
that  their  action,  after  argument  pro  and  con  as  to  the  admissibility  of  evidence, 
overruling  of  motions  of  pleas  or  sustaining  the  same,  was  wrong,  and  that  they 
now  desire  to  correct  it;  however,  as  the  conduct  of  the  case  has  been  somewhat 
criticized,  and  as  the  counsel,  who  declined  to  argue  the  defense,  intimated  that 
a  large  part  of  the  address  would  have  been  directed  to  those  objections,  and 
has  asked  that  they  be  not  wholly  overlooked;  I  think  it  is  not  entirely  out  of 
place  to  review  at  this  time,  very  briefly,  the  points  of  objection.  It  has  been 
frequently  asserted  in  court  by  counsel  that  the  whole  power  of  the  government 
was  concentrated  upon  the  prosecution  of  this  prisoner,  and  that  he,  single- 
handed  and  without  the  aid  of  the  government,  has  been  conducting  the  defense. 
It  is  well  known  that  witnesses  for  the  defense  receive  a  per  diem  and  their  actual 
expenses  in  coming  to  the  court  and  returning  to  their  homes.  The  records  of  this 
court  will  show  that  every  subpoena  asked  for  has  been  given,  except  in  the  cases 
of  a  few  rebel  functionaries  who,  for  reasons  stated  at  the  time,  were  not  sub 
poenaed.  Of  this,  however,  there  should  be  no  complaint,  as  the  facts  which 
those  witnesses  were  expected  to  establish  were  shown  by  other  witnesses,  and  as 
a  proposition  was  made  by  the  judges  advocate  to  admit  that  those  witnesses 
thus  excluded  would  testify  here  as  to  the  same  facts,  a  proposition  which  was  de 
clined  by  the  counsel. 

The  records  of  this  court  will  also  show  that  there  have  been  106  witnesses 
subpoenaed  for  the  defense,  of  whom  sixty-eight  reported.  Of  these,  thirty-nine, 
many  of  them  soldiers  of  our  army  and  sufferers  at  Andersonville,  were  discharged 
without  being  put  upon  the  stand,  the  counsel,  for  reasons  known  only  to  himself, 
declining  to  call  them.  Besides  this  the  government  has,  without  a  precedent, 
furnished,  at  great  expense,  to  the  prisoner  a  copy  of  the  record  from  day  to 
day  during  the  progress  of  the  trial.  The  government  has  also  given  his  counsel 
the  benefit  of  its  clerical  force,  and,  in  short,  shown  the  prisoner  indulgences 
which  should  forever  close  the  mouth  of  one  whose  treatment  of  its  soldiers  was 
in  such  striking  contrast,  that  he  must  have  felt  the  more  deeply  his  guilt.  Again, 
it  has  been  frequently  complained  of  during  the  trial,  that  the  court  has  excluded 
the  declarations  of  the  prisoner,  made  in  his  own  behalf,  and  has  refused  to  allow 
him  in  other  instances  to  show  what  he  did.  I  think  the  court  will  remember 
that  in  every  case  the  whole  of  any  particular  transaction  has  been  given  for  and 
against  the  prisoner,  and  that  the  res  gestce,  properly  so  called,  has  never  been 
excluded. 

All  the  prison  records  in  possession  of  the  government  which  could  throw  any 
light  upon  this  case  are  in  evidence. 

The  prisoner  has  been  allowed  to  show  acts  of  kindness  wherever  they  could, 
with  any  legal  propriety,  be  given,  as,  for  instance,  the  taking  of  drummer  boys 
out  of  the  stockade  because  of  their  youth,  the  allowing  Miss  Eawson  to  admin 
ister  to  the  wants  of  one  soldier,  the  giving  of  passes  to  ministers  of  the  gospel 
to  enter  the  stockade,  his  letters  and  reports  with  reference  to  the  wants  of  the 
prison,  his  kindness  to  the  prisoners  whom  he  detailed  for  duty  outside  the 
stockade,  and  many  other  things,  all  of  which,  we  shall  show  hereafter,  are  not 
incompatible  with  the  idea  of  his  guilt.  But  even  admitting  more  than  is  claimed 
or  proved  for  the  prisoner,  in  regard  to  his  urging  Winder  and  the  rebel  authori- 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TEIAL.  399 

ties  to  do  certain  things,  the  law  is  clear  that  if  a  party  remain  in  a  conspiracy, 
though  protesting  against  it  and  seeking  to  escape  from  it,  or  if  he  continue  in 
an  unlawful  enterprise,  insisting  that  he  does  not  mean  to  do  harm,  yet  if  harm 
results  or  serious  and  criminal  consequences  follow,  he  is  nevertheless  responsible. 

If  in  the  course  of  one  year's  pursuit  of  an  illegal  business,  a  stupendous  crime 
indeed,  the  perpetrator  could  show  less  than  this  prisoner  has  shown  in  his  favor, 
he  would  not  be  entitled  to  the  human  name. 

It  would  be  strange  indeed  if  this  record  of  five  thousand  pages,  of  sixty-three 
days  of  weary,  laborious  trial,  presented  no  wrong  rulings,  no  improper  exclusion 
or  admission  of  evidence  in  a  greater  or  less  degree  pertinent  to  some  issue  made; 
but  I  assert  with  all  confidence  and  with  honest  belief,  that  the  interests  of  this 
prisoner  have  not  been  and  cannot  be  affected  injuriously  by  such  action  in  any 
instance  that  can  be  named. 

It  must  not  be  forgotten,  and  to  do  this  I  call  the  special  attention  of  the 
counsel  and  of  the  court,  that  nowhere  in  this  record  can  there  be  found  the 
exclusion  of  a  scintilla  of  evidence  bearing  on  the  defense  to  the  charge  of  mur 
der,  and  to  which  this  prisoner  is  more  especially  called  to  answer.  There  ia 
another  fact  to  which  I  would  also  call  the  attention  of  the  counsel  and  the  court, 
and  it  is  this:  that  if  after  a  careful  examination  of  the  evidence  there  be  found 
sufficient  legal  proof,  legally  spread  upon  the  record,  you  must  proceed  with  your 
finding  without  regard  to  any  illegal  evidence,  and  not,  as  the  counsel  would 
insist,  declare  the  whole  vitiated.  This  is  sustained  by  reason  and  by  law, 
wherever  it  comes  up  to  the  true  standard,  which  after  all  is  but  the  perfection 
of  human  reason.  The  only  instance  in  which  appellate  courts  remand  cases  for 
new  trial  is  where,  from  the  bill  of  exceptions  presented,  they  cannot  determine 
whether  the  jury  were  or  were  not  misled  by  the  evidence  improperly  admitted; 
but  where  they  find  that  the  errors  complained  of  were  not  material,  or  where 
the  verdict  is  sustained  after  disregarding  the  errors,  no  courts  will  subject  the 
parties  to  a  second  trial,  or  interpose  to  save  the  complainant. 

Out  of  place  as  this  may  be  in  the  order  of  my  argument,  I  have  deemed  it 
just  to  say  this  much. 

CHARACTER  OF   TESTIMONY. 

It  is  argued  that  the  evidence  presenting  the  horrors  of  Andersonville  is  not 
of  that  class  which  is  entirely  reliable;  that  those  who  were  in  the  Eebellion  have 
been  brought  here  forcibly  by  the  government,  and  made  to  testify  in  anticipa 
tion  of  reward  by  pardon  or  through  fear  of  being  themselves  punished,  and 
that  the  evidence  of  soldiers  who  were  sufferers  at  Andersonville  were  highly 
colored,  testifying  as  they  did  under  the  sense  of  the  injuries  inflicted  upon  them 
while  prisoners,  and  warmed  to  enthusiasm  in  the  enumeration  of  their  wrongs. 

I  need  say  only  in  reply,  that  the  careful  observer  of  this  trial  must  have 
discovered  how  utterly  powerless  has  been  the  language  of  witnesses  to  describe 
the  condition  of  affairs  at  Andersonville;  that  where  science  has  spoken  through 
her  devotees,  where  inspectors  have  tried  to  convey  a  correct  idea,  where  the 
artist  has  sought  to  delineate,  or  the  photographer  to  call  the  elements  to  witness, 
they  have  all  uniformly  declared  that  with  all  these  appliances,  nothing  has 
presented  in  their  true  light  the  horrors  of  that  place. 


400  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

The  evidence  before  you  is  of  the  highest  character.  It  consists  of  many 
kinds,  from  many  directions,  from  persons  speaking  in  the  interest  and  for  the 
good  of  the  rebel  government,  from  persons  under  a  strong  sense  of  the  wrongs 
done  those  miserable  wretches,  from  disinterested  observers  neither  in  the  one  nor 
the  other  army,  and  from  the  injured  themselves.  And  yet  there  is  a  most  striking 
concurrence  in  all  this  testimony  all  agreeing  that  history  has  never  presented 
a  scene  of  such  gigantic  human  suffering.  If  I  can  succeed  in  presenting  to  your 
minds  a  faithful  picture  of  Andersonville  as  it  was,  or  make  such  an  analysis 
and  grouping  of  the  testimony  as  to  show  to  the  civilized  world  a  tithe  of  its 
horrors,  the  suffering  endured,  I  shall  have  accomplished  all  I  can  hope,  and 
shall  have  done  more  than  I  fear  I  am  able  to  do. 

• 
THE   CONSPIRACY   CHARGE. 

The  record  of  the  trial  presents  a  question  far  more  important  than 
the  inquiry  whether  Wirz  was  innocent  or  guilty.  It  presents  a  ques 
tion  of  guilt  or  innocence  of  many  others — some  of  them  high  in  au 
thority — and  involving  the  president  of  the  Confederacy.  The  evi 
dence  has  been  laid  before  the  reader.  The  charge  of  conspiracy  was 
a  grave  one — the  gravest  and  most  important  involved  in  the  trial. 
It  was  due  the  court  that  the  law  and  facts  should  be  placed  before 
it  in  some  proper  sequence.  This  was  done  by  the  judge  advocate,  and 
it  is  due  the  reader  that  he  should  have  the  opportunity  of  judging 
whether  the  court  found  support  in  the  evidence  for  its  conclusions. 
Upon  this  branch  of  the  case  the  judge  advocate  addressed  the  court 
citing  the  evidence  which  will  be  recalled  by  the  reader  as  set  forth  in 
preceding  pages.  I  quote  -,1 

We  now  come  to  a  consideration  of  the  third  branch  of  the  subject.  Having 
presented  a  faithful  representation — faithful  because  the  witnesses  have  given 
it — of  the  condition  of  the  stockade  and  the  hospital,  we  shall  proceed  to  unfold 
the  extent  of  the  conspiracy,  the  purposes  of  the  conspirators,  and  the  cruel  .and 
devilish  means  resorted  to  to  accomplish  their  ends. 

I  confess  to  you,  gentlemen,  that  I  enter  upon  this  branch  of  the  argument 
with  regret  and  reluctance.  I  confess  that,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  our  nation 
ality,  and  the  good  name  we  bear,  are  involved  in  the  issue;  but  I  do  not  fear 
to  present  to  the  world,  on  this  account,  this  great  conspiracy  of  treason,  this 
confederation  of  traitors,  though  it  shock  the  moral  sentiment  of  the  universe; 
for,  however  much  we  may  deplore  the  fact  that  its  head  and  front  were  Ameri 
cans,  once  prominent  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  they  have  forfeited  all  rights; 
they  have  ceased  in  any  way  to  represent  the  true  spirit  of  Americanism;  they 
are  outlaws  and  criminals,  and  cannot  by  their  crimes  taint  our  fair  escutcheon. 
It  is  the  work  of  treason,  the  legitimate  result  of  that  sum  of  all  villainies,  and 
which,  by  many,  very  many,  proofs  during  the  past  four  years,  has  shown  itself 
capable  of  this  last  one  developed.  When  we  remember  that  the  men  here 

1  Record,  p.  599  et  seq. 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TEIAL.  401 

charged,  and  those  inculpated,  but  not  named  in  the  indictment,  are  some  of 
them  men  who  were  at  the  head  of  the  late  rebellion,  from  its  beginning  to  its 
close,  and  as  such  chiefs,  sanctioned  the  brutal  conduct  of  their  soldiers  as  early 
as  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run;  who  perpetrated  unheard-of  cruelties  at  Libby 
and  Belle  Isle;  who  encouraged  the  most  atrocious  propositions  of  retaliation  in 
their  Congress;  who  sanctioned  a  guerrilla  mode  of  warfare;  who  instilled  a 
system  of  steamboat  burning  and  firing  of  cities;  who  employed  a  surgeon  in 
their  service  to  steal  into  our  capital  city  infected  clothing;  who  approved  the 
criminal  treatment  of  the  captured  prisoners  at  Fort  Pillow,  Port  Washington, 
and  elsewhere ;  who  were  guilty  of  the  basest  treachery  in  sending  paroled 
prisoners  into  the  field;  who  planted  torpedoes  in  the  paths  of  our  soldiers;  who' 
paid  their  emissaries  for  loading  shell  in  the  shape  of  coal,  and  intermixing  them 
in  the  fuel  of  our  steamers;  who  ordered  an  indiscriminate  firing  upon  our  trans 
ports  and  vessels  and  railroad  trains,  regardless  of  whom  they  contained;  who 
organized  and  carried  to  a  successful  termination  a  most  diabolical  conspiracy  to 
assassinate  the  President  of  the  United  States — when  we  remember  these  things 
of  these  men,  may  we  not  without  hesitancy  bring  to  light  the  conspiracy  here 
charged? 

Before  entering,  however,  into  a  discussion  of  the  evidence,  let  me  present  the 
law  governing  in  cases  of  conspiracy.  I  quote  from  the  very  able  argument  of 
John  A.  Bingham,  delivered  for  the  prosecution  in  the  trial  of  the  conspirators 
for  the  assassination  of  President  Lincoln,  whose  law  propositions  and  authorities 
given  cannot  be  gainsaid: 

If  the  conspiracy  be  established  as  laid,  it  results  that  whatever  was  said  or 
done  by  either  of  the  parties  thereto,  in  the  furtherance  or  execution  of  the  com 
mon  design,  is  the  declaration  or  act  of  all  the  other  parties  to  the  conspiracy; 
and  this,  whether  the  other  parties,  at  the  time  such  words  were  uttered,  or  such 
acts  done  by  their  confederates,  were  present  or  absent. 

The  declared  and  accepted  rule  of  law  in  cases  of  conspiracy  is  that — 

"In  prosecutions  for  conspiracy  it  is  an  established  rule  that  where  several 
persons  are  proved  to  have  combined  together  for  the  same  illegal  purpose,  any 
act  done  by  one  of  the  party,  in  pursuance  of  the  original  concerted  plan,  and  in 
reference  to  the  common  object,  is  in  the  contemplation  of  law,  as  well  as  of 
sound  reason,  the  act  of  the  whole  party;  and  therefore  the  proof  of  the  act  will 
be  evidence  against  any  of  the  others  who  were  engaged  in  the  same  general  con 
spiracy,  without  regard  to  the  question  whether  the  prisoner  is  proved  to  have 
been  concerned  in  the  particular  transaction."  (Phillips  on  Evidence,  p.  210.) 

The  same  rule  obtains  in  case  of  treason:  "If  several  persons  agree  to  levy 
war,  some  in  one  place  and  some  in  another,  and  one  party  do  actually  appear  in 
arms,  this  is  a  levying  of  war  by  all,  as  well  those  who  were  not  in  arms  as  those 
who  were,  if  it  were  done  in  pursuance  of  the  original  concert,  for  those  who 
made  the  attempt  were  emboldened  by  the  confidence  inspired  by  the  general  con 
cert,  and  therefore  these  particular  acts  are  in  justice  imputable  to  all  the  rest." 
(1  East.,  Pleas  of  the  Crown,  p.  97;  Roscoe,  84.) 

In  Ex  parte  Bollman  and  Swartwout,  4  Cranch,  126,  Marshall,  Chief  Justice, 
rules:  "If  war  be  actually  levied,  that  is,  if  a  body  of  men  be  actually  assembled 
for  the  purpose  of  effecting,  by  force,  a  treasonable  purpose,  all  those  who  perform 
any  part,  however  minute,  or  however  remote  from  the  scene  of  action,  and  who 
are  actually  leagued  in  the  general  conspiracy,  are  to  be  considered  as  traitors." 

In  United  States  vs.  Cole  et  al.,  5  McLean,  601,  Mr.  Justice  McLean  says : 

"A  conspiracy  is  rarely  if  ever,  proved  by  positive  testimony.  When  a  crime 
of  high  magnitude  is  about  to  be  perpetrated  by  a  combination  of  individuals, 
they  do  not  act  openly,  but  covertly  and  secretly.  The  purpose  formed  is  known 


402  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

only  to  those  men  who  enter  into  it;  unless  one  of  the  original  conspirators  betray 
Ms  companions,  and  give  evidence  against  them,  their  guilt  can  only  be  proved 
by  circumstantial  evidence."  .  .  . 

It  is  said  by  some  writers  on  evidence  that  such  circumstances  are  stronger  than 
positive  proof.  A  witness  swearing  positively,  it  is  said,  may  misapprehend  the 
facts  or  swear  falsely,  but  that  circumstances  cannot  lie. 

The  common  design  is  the  essence  of  the  charge,  and  this  may  be  made  to  appear 
when  the  defendants  steadily  pursue  the  same  object,  whether  acting  separately 
or  together,  by  common  or  different  means,  all  leading  to  the  same  unlawful 
result.  And  where  prima  facie  evidence  has  been  given  of  a  combination,  the 
acts  and  confessions  of  one  are  evidence  against  all.  ...  It  is  reasonable  that 
where  a  body  of  men  assume  the  attribute  of  individuality,  whether  for  commercial 
•business  or  the  commission  of  a  crime,  the  association  should  be  bound  by  the 
acts  of  one  of  its  members  in  carrying  out  the  design. 

It  is  a  rule  of  the  law,  not  to  be  overlooked  in  this  connection,  that  the  con 
spiracy  or  agreement  of  the  parties,  or  some  of  them,  to  act  in  concert  to  ac 
complish  the  unlawful  act  charged,  may  be  established  either  by  direct  evidence 
of  a  meeting  or  consultation  for  the  illegal  purpose  charged,  or  more  usually  from 
the  very  nature  of  the  case,  by  circumstantial  evidence.  (2d  Starkie,  232.) 

Lord  Mansfield  ruled  that  it  was  not  necessary  to  prove  the  actual  fact  of  a 
conspiracy,  but  that  it  might  be  collected  from  collateral  circumstances.  (Par- 
sons's  case,  1;  W.  Blackstone,  392.) 

"If,"  says  a  great  authority  on  the  law  of  evidence,  on  a  charge  of  conspiracy, 
"it  appears  that  two  persons  by  their  acts  are  pursuing  the  same  object,  and  often 
by  the  same  means,  or  one  performing  part  of  the  act,  and  the  other  completing 
it,  for  the  attainment  of  the  same  object,  the  jury  may  draw  the  conclusion  there 
is  a  conspiracy;  if  a  conspiracy  be  formed,  and  a  person  join  in  it  afterwards, 
he  is  equally  guilty  with  the  original  conspirators."  (Eoscoe,  415.) 

The  rule  of  the  admissibility  of  the  acts  and  declarations  of  any  one  of  the 
conspirators,  said  or  done  in  furtherance  of  the  common  design,  applies  in  casea 
as  well  where  only  part  of  the  conspirators  are  indicted  and  upon  trial.  Thus 
upon  an  indictment  of  murder,  if  it  appear  that  others,  together  with  the  prisoner, 
conspired  to  commit  the  crime,  the  act  of  one,  done  in  pursuance  of  that  intention, 
will  be  evidence  against  the  rest.  (2d  Starkie,  237.)  They  are  alike  guilty  as 
principals.  (Commonwealth  vs.  Knapp,  9  Pickering,  496;  10  Pickering,  477;  6 
Term  Eeports,  528;  11  East.,  584.) 

Let  us  see  what  the  evidences  are  of  a  common  design  to  murder  by  starva 
tion  these  hapless,  helpless  wretches.  First,  then,  who  are  officers,  high  and 
low,  civil  and  military,  whom  the  evidence  implicates  in  this  great  crime? 

As  I  shall  show  you  by  the  testimony,  there  are  associated  in  this  conspiracy, 
as  directly  implicated  and  as  perpetrators,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  and  others 
named  in  the  charges. 

Eemote  from  the  scene,  but  no  less  responsible  than  these  named,  nay,  rather 
with  a  greater  weight  of  guilt  resting  upon  them,  are  the  leader  of  the  Eebellion, 
his  war  minister,  his  surgeon-general,  his  commissary  and  quartermaster-general, 
his  commissioner  of  exchange,  and  all  others  sufficiently  high  in  authority  to  have 
prevented  these  atrocities,  and  to  whom  the  knowledge  of  them  was  brought 

Chief  among  the  conspirators  and  the  actual  participators  in  the  crime,  the 
immediate  tool,  first  and  last,  of  the  rebel  government,  we  shall  see  was  General 
Winder. 

It  is  proper,  therefore,  that  we  should  know  who  he  was,  and  the  precise  rela 
tions  which  he  bore  to  the  government  which  he  represented.  We  learn  from 
many  sources  that  he  had  for  a  long  time  prior  to  the  organization  of  the  Ander- 
aonville  prison  been  at  the  head  of  the  military  prisons  in  and  around  Eichmond, 


THE  COUET  AND  THE  TE1AL.  403 

holding   also   the  position   of   provost   marshal  of   that  important   center   of   the 
Eebellion. 

We  learn  from  the  witness  J.  B.  Jones  (record,  p.  2531;  manuscript,  p.  1219) 
tnat  his  rule  as  provost  marshal  was  almost  a  reign  of  terror;  that  his  authority 
was  so  great  he  could  arrest  men  indiscriminately  even  in  distant  states,  and 
that  he  was  constantly  sustained  and  supported  by  Jefferson  Davis  and  his  con 
fidential  adviser  and  premier,  Mr.  Benjamin. 

The  witness  Cashmeyer  (record,  p.  2840-41;  manuscript,  p.  1221),  the  con 
fidential  detective  and  constant  companion  of  General  Winder  till  the  close  of  the 
Eebellion,  says:  "Their  relations  [those  of  Davis  and  Winder]  were  very  friendly 
indeed,  and  very  confidential;  I  often  heard  General  Winder  say  so;  I  often  saw 
him  go  there  and  come  from  there." 

About  the  time  that  General  Winder's  reign  of  terror  was  at  its  climax,  and 
there  was  great  opposition  felt  and  expressed  towards  him,  both  in  and  out  of 
the  rebel  congress,  a  combined  effort  was  made  to  have  him  relieved  and  sent  away, 
Generals  Bragg  and  Eansom  being  prominent  in  the  movement.  At  this  time 
Cashmeyer  says:  "President  Davis  was  his  [Winder's]  especial  friend.  When 
the  order  relieving  General  Winder  came  from  the  war  department,  he  took  it 
and  went  up  to  Mr.  Davis;  President  Davis  indorsed  on  it,  as  well  as  I  can  recol 
lect,  that  it  was  entirely  unnecessary  and  uncalled  for." 

Some  time  after  this  it  was  thought  wise  by  the  rebel  authorities  to  organize 
the  Andersonville  prison,  and  the  whole  matter  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Gen 
eral  Winder  by  the  orders  issued  from  the  war  department  for  the  purpose. 
General  Winder  himself  did  not  go  to  Andersonville  till  about  the  first,  of  June, 
but  he  sent  forward,  as  we  learn  from  the  testimony  of  Cashmeyer  (record,  p. 
2842;  manuscript,  p.  1221),  of  Spencer  (record,  p.  600;  manuscript,  p.  1056), 
of  Captain  Wright  (record,  p.  790;  manuscript,  p.  1177),  and  others,  his  son, 
Captain  W.  S.  Winder  of  his  staff,  as  his  special  executive  officer,  and  as  we  learn 
from  the  testimony  of  Colonel  Persons  (record,  p.  613;  manuscript,  p.  250), 
"with  absolute  discretion  in  the  location  of  the  prison."  This  was  in  the  latter 
part  of  December,  1863. 

Shortly  after,  another  officer  of  General  Winder,  a  nephew  of  his,  Captain 
E.  B.  Winder,  a  quartermaster,  arrived  at  Andersonville  and  assumed  the  duties 
of  his  office.  Captain  Wright,  in  speaking  of  him  (record,  p.  2447;  manuscript, 
p.  1177),  says:  "He  told  me  that  he  had  no  orders  to  report  to  any  quartermaster 
at  all;  that  he  reported  directly  to  Eichmond,  and  received  his  instructions  from 
Eichmond." 

Subsequently  in  the  month  of  March,  1864,  General  Winder  sent  still  another 
of  his  staff  officers,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  who,  as  we  learn  from  his  report, 
made  May  8th  (see  exhibit  16;  manuscript,  p.  658),  was  assigned  to  the  command 
of  the  prison  on  the  27th  of  March. 

Of  him,  Colonel  Persons  says  (record,  p.  602  and  following;  manuscript,  p. 
249)  :  "He  came  direct  from  Eichmond,  my  understanding  was,  by  order  of 
General  Winder;  I  saw  an  official  order  to  that  effect;  I  received  a  communication 
about  the  time  Captain  Wirz  reached  there  from  General  Winder;  it  stated  that 
Captain  Wirz  was  an  old  prison  officer,  a  very  reliable  man  and  capable  of  govern 
ing  prisoners,  and  wound  up  by  saying  that  I  would  give  him  command  of  the 
prison  proper." 


404  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONV1LLE. 

From  the  return  of  staff  officers  made  by  General  Winder  after  he  had  him 
self  arrived  at  Andersonville,  and  who  he  says  were  "acting  under  the  orders  of 
Brigadier  General  John  H.  Winder,  commanding  the  post  at  Andersonville, 
Georgia,  commanding  the  camps  and  stockade  containing  Federal  prisoners  of  war 
and  the  guard  troops  for  the  same,  the  prison  for  Federal  prisoners  of  war  at 
Macon,  Georgia,"  &c,  we  find  that  Dr.  Isaiah  H.  White,  also  on  his  staff, 
was  assigned  to  duty  at  Andersonville,  by  orders  of  the  war  department  at  Rich 
mond,  as  chief  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  prison  hospital;  he  arrived  at  Anderson 
ville  about  the  same  time  as  the  two  Captains  Winder. 

This  comprises  the  original  corps  of  officers  sent  from  Richmond  to  carry  out 
the  hellish  purposes  of  the  rebel  government,  and  which,  as  we  shall  see  as  we 
advance,  was  most  faithfully  done  by  them.  Can  there  be  any  doubt  as  to  what 
the  original  purpose  of  the  rebel  government  was?  Let  us  go  to  the  very  origin 
of  the  prison. 

Ambrose  Spencer  testifies  (record,  pp.  2472-74;  manuscript,  p.  1056),  as 
follows:  "I  saw  Captain  W.  S.  Winder:  at  the  time  he  was  laying  out  the  prison. 
...  I  asked  him  if  he  was  going  to  erect  barracks  or  shelter  of  any  kind;  he 
replied  that  he  was  not,  that  the  damned  Yankees  who  would  be  put  in  there 
would  have  no  need  of  them.  I  asked  him  why  he  was  cutting  down  all  the  trees, 
and  suggested  that  they  would  prove  a  shelter  to  the  prisoners,  from  the  heat  of 
the  sun  at  least;  he  made  this  reply,  or  something  similar  to  it:  That  is  just 
what  I  am  going  to  do;  I  am  going  to  build  a  pen  here  that  will  Trill  more  damned 
Yankees  than  can  be  destroyed  in  the  front.  These  are  very  nearly  his  words,  or 
equivalent  to  them." 

How  was  this  plan,  thus  emphatically  avowed,  carried  out?  The  stockade  was 
located  across  a  stream  which  General  Wilson  of  our  army  says  (record,  p.  1839; 
manuscript,  p.  822)  "would  not  run  more  water  than  would  supply  for  the  pur 
poses  of  an  army  a  larger  command  than  four  or  five  thousand  men," — "a  sluggish 
stream,"  as  Dr.  Jones  calls  it, — which  with  the  springs  along  its  banks,  sufficient 
probably  to  supply  a  regiment  more,  was  the  only  water  originally  intended  for 
the  prisoners. 

From  the  inside  of  the  prison  everything  was  taken  which  could  in  any  way 
contribute  to  the  comfort,  convenience,  or  health  of  the  prisoners,  and  was  never 
replaced  by  shelter,  neither  during  the  burning  heat  of  the  summer,  which  Dr. 
Thornburg  tells  you  was  not  much  short  of  150  degrees  in  the  sun,  nor  the  cold 
which  followed  in  the  winter,  sufficiently  severe,  as  is  shown  by  several  witnesses, 
to  freeze  and  which  did  freeze  many  prisoners  to  death. 

It  will  be  remembered,  too,  that  not  400  yards  distant,  below  the  site  selected 
for  the  stockade,  was  a  stream  of  water  which  General  Wilson  says  was  ample 
for  any  number  of  troops,  a  stream  that  could  not  have  been  exhausted,  and 
which,  after  careful  examination,  as  he  says,  was  found  to  flow  a  volume  of  water 
equal  to  fifteen  feet  by  five  feet,  with  a  velocity  of  a  mile  an  hour  (record,  p. 
1876;  manuscript,  p.  822),  and  which  Colonel  Persons  says  (record,  p.  610;  manu 
script,  p.  250),  it  occurred  to  him  would  have  been  a  preferable  place  to  the  one 
where  the  prison  was  located,  adding,  "I  suggested  it  to  W.  S.  Winder,  I  believe; 
I  recollect  distinctly  it  was  one  of  the  Winders." 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TRIAL.  405 

The  mere  location  of  the  prison  in  the  absence  of  other  facts  would  not  per 
haps,  of  itself,  convey  a  criminal  intent;  but  when  we  remember  what  followed, 
and  certain  other  facts  which  will  be  presented,  it  becomes  a  very  important  link 
in  the  chain  of  evidence  leading  to  the  guilt  of  the  parties  alleged.  It  will  be 
remembered  that  the  immense  bake-house,  the  only  accommodation  of  that  kind 
furnished  for  the  prisoners  until  late  in  the  year,  was  located  so  that  all  the 
filth  and  garbage,  and  offal  of  that  place,  which  is  described  as  itself  almost  as 
filthy  as  the  stockade,  passed  directly  through  the  prison. 

This,  it  is  testified  to  by  many,  could  with  equal  convenience  have  been  located 
elsewhere,  and  this  was  suggested  to  Captain  R.  B.  Winder,  the  quartermaster,  at 
the  time  of  its  erection.  Immediately  below  the  stockade,  as  appears  from  the 
evidence  of  Dr.  Jones,  Dr.  Roy,  and  others,  trees  were  felled  in  the  stream  and 
brush  thrown  into  the  swamp,  so  that  the  filth  escaping  from  the  prison,  which 
ought  to  have  been  allowed  to  pass  rapidly  off,  was  here  caught,  spread  over  the 
surface  and  disseminated  in  the  soil,  till,  as  these  medical  gentlemen  say,  it  became 
a  prolific  source  of  disease,  and  sent  back  into  the  prison  a  horrible  stench. 

These  preparations  of  death  did  not  cease  here,  but  with  incredible  malice,  or 
with  recklessness  equally  criminal,  the  troops  arriving  at  the  post  for  the  purposes 
of  defense  were  encamped  above  the  stockade  and  along  the  stream  in  such  a 
manner  that,  as  many  witnesses  testify,  all  the  washings  of  the  camps  and  over 
flowings  of  the  sinks  during  storms  swept  into  the  stockade.  Into  this  horrible 
pen  were  the  prisoners  of  war  ushered,  and  here  were  they  confined  in  hopeless 
captivity.  Here,  too,  for  many  months,  with  all  these  surroundings,  and  every 
thing  calculated  to  make  it  certain  death  for  the  sick,  was  the  hospital  retained; 
and  not  until  after  earnest  protests  from  many  officers,  not  until  after  frequent 
representations  through  official  channels  to  the  rebel  government,  through  General 
Winder,  who  was  still  in  Richmond,  not  until  after,  as  we  learn  from  the  testi 
mony  of  Colonel  Persons,  humanity  impelled  him  to  take  the  responsibility,  was 
the  hospital  removed  outside,  and  this  he  tells  us  (record,  p.  3059;  manuscript, 
p.  1304),  was  done  in  violation  of  General  Winder's  orders,  and  was  tardily 
acquiesced  in  some  weeks  after  by  an  order  from  Richmond. 

About  the  time  of  this  clamor  for  the  removal  of  the  hospital,  considerations 
of  humanity  pleaded  with  equal  fervor  for  an  enlargement  of  the  stockade. 
Prisoners  had  been  sent  forward,  under  orders  from  Richmond,  with  such  rapidity 
and  in  such  numbers  that  they  could  only  be  turned  into  this  place  like  cattle, 
until  at  the  time  we  speak  of,  within  an  enclosure  of  little  more  than  twelve  acres, 
excluding  the  swamp,  unfit  for  occupation,  and  the  dead-line  space,  the  frightful 
number  of  over  18,000  were  confined.  Protest  after  protest  went  up  through 
many  sources  to  General  Winder  at  Richmond.  Colonel  Persons  says  (record,  p. 
2061;  manuscript,  p.  1305):  "We  sent  an  objection  to  the  authorities  at  Rich 
mond,  to  General  Winder,  and  urged  him  to  hold  up,  and  not  ship  any  more 
prisoners  there,  but  he  paid  no  attention  to  it." 

This  seething  mass  of  humanity,  with  scarcely  room  to  stand  upon,  crying  for 
help,  the  more  conscientious  officers  of  the  post  doing  all  in  their  power  to  alle 
viate  their  sufferings,  the  commanding  officer  notifying  the  rebel  government 
what  they  must  have  known  all  the  time,  that  the  mortality  was  great,  and  must 
be  still  greater  unless  something  should  be  done,  Colonel  Persons  was  aroused  upon 


406  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

this  subject,  as  he  had  been  upon  the  matter  of  removing  the  hospital,  and  here 
again  he  took  the  responsibility,  as  he  tells  us  (record,  p.  621;  manuscript,  p. 
258),  to  order  an  enlargement  of  the  stockade  about  one-third,  which  was  done 
under  the  direction  of  Captain  Wright  by  the  prisoners  themselves.  Colonel  Per 
sons  says  (record,  p.  3063;  manuscript,  p.  1306)  that  when  he  saw  they  did  not 
intend  holding  up,  but  continued  to  ship  more  prisoners,  and  saw  that  the  prison 
was  overcrowded,  he  directed  the  enlargement  of  the  prison,  and  he  says:  "After 
I  had  finished  the  extension,  or,  perhaps,  after  I  had  got  it  partly  finished,  orders 
came  giving  me  permission  to  do  it." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  during  all  this  time  the  precise  condition  of  affairs 
at  Andersonville  was  well  understood  at  Eichmond.  General  Winder,  to  whom 
the  entire  business  of  organizing  and  conducting  the  prison  was  assigned,  re 
mained  in  Eichmond  as  the  representative  of  the  prison  at  that  place.  He  was 
in  constant  correspondence  with  the  officers  on  duty  at  Andersonville,  as  is  fully 
shown  by  what  has  just  been  stated.  That  he  frequently  conferred  with  the  officers 
of  the  war  department  is  not  only  reasonably  inferable  but  is  absolutely  certain. 

General  Cobb,  in  his  letter  to  the  adjutant-general  of  May  5,  (see  exhibit  num 
ber  15;  manuscript,  p.  649),  says:  "I  presume  the  character  of  the  prison  is 
well  understood  at  Eichmond,  and  therefore  give  no  description  of  it." 

The  introduction  of  his  letter,  showing  that  his  presumption  was  well  founded, 
is  as  follows :  "Under  your  order  to  inform  myself  of  the  condition  of  the  prison 
at  Andersonville,  with  the  view  of  furnishing  from  the  reserve  corps  the  necessary 
guard  for  its  protection  and  safety,  etc." 

Dr.  Eldridge,  in  his  report,  forwarded  to  Eichmond  at  the  same  time  as  Gen 
eral  Cobb's,  in  speaking  of  the  necessity  of  removing  the  hospital  outside  and 
endeavoring  to  meet  the  objections  made  at  Eichmond,  says:  "Such  an  enclosure 
as  I  should  suggest — a  plank  fence  ten  feet  high — would  require  but  very  few 
additional  guards,  as  the  guard  appears  to  be  the  objection  urged  at  Eichmond 
to  a  separate  enclosure." 

On  the  8th  of  May,  1864,  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  made  a  report  to  Major 
Turner,  who,  as  an  officer  on  duty  pertaining  to  prisons,  connected  with  the  war 
department  (see  exhibit  16;  manuscript,  p.  658),  in  which  the  condition  of  affairs 
at  Andersonville  at  that  date  was  fully  set  forth.  This  report  reached  Eichmond 
during  the  same  month,  and  was  submitted  to  the  war  department  by  General 
Winder,  with  the  following  indorsement:  "Approved  and  respectfully  forwarded. 
Captain  Wirz  has  proven  himself  to  be  a  diligent  and  efficient  officer,  whose 
superior  in  commanding  prisons  and  incident  duties  I  know  not." 

We  all  know,  as  officers  of  the  army,  that  the  furnishing  of  subsistence,  of  the 
material  used  by  quartermasters,  and  of  hospital  supplies  and  medicine,  was  all 
done  either  through  the  chiefs  of  those  several  departments  at  Eichmond,  acting 
under  the  supervision  of  the  secretary  of  war  himself,  or  by  virtue  of  the  orders 
of  these  chiefs  and  of  that  secretary. 

It  is  not  credible  that  such  an  immense  prison  as  that  at  Andersonville,  used 
as  a  receptacle  for  prisoners  from  all  parts  of  the  South,  was  unknown  to  the 
Eichmond  government,  and  that  the  whole  management,  the  subsistence  of  the 
prisoners,  their  comfort,  their  safety,  everything  was  left  in  the  hands  of  this 
heretofore  obscure  man,  now  on  trial.  But  it  is  said  that  during  these  straitened 


THE  COUET  AND  THE  TRIAL.  407 

times  the  prisoner  and  the  other  officers  charged  were  doing  all  in  their  power 
to  alleviate  the  sufferings,  so  well  known  at  Eichmond  and  at  Andersonville. 

Without  stopping  now  to  inquire  what  could  have  been  done,  and  what  is 
shown  by  a  cloud  of  witnesses  to  have  been  in  their  power,  notice  a  moment  what 
was  done,  and  whether  or  not  it  was  in  furtherance  of  the  conspiracy.  Captain 
E.  B.  Winder,  as  we  learn  from  Captain  Wright's  testimony  (record,  p.  2747; 
manuscript,  p.  1177),  came  to  Andersonville  untrammelled  by  any  orders,  reported 
to  no  one,  but  received  his  instructions  from  the  quartermaster  general.  He  told 
Captain  Wright  that  "all  the  quartermasters  had  been  ordered  by  the  quarter 
master  general  to  furnish  him  with  what  supplies  he  needed  to  fill  his  requisitions." 

With  powers  thus  ample  he  erected  a  few  scanty,  miserable  sheds  at  one  end 
of  the  stockade,  which  were  then  used  as  a  hospital,  and  were  not  sufficient  for 
the  sick;  he  built  a  cook-house  which  was  a  prolific  source  of  suffering  and  death, 
and  which  was  not  of  sufficient  capacity  to  prepare  rations  for  more  than  5,000 
men  properly.  He  built  a  hospital  enclosure  with  some  sheds  within  it,  covered 4 
but  not  sided;  he  furnished  the  prisoners  with  wood  for  cooking  purposes,  as 
we  learn,  at  the  rate  of  three  cord  wood  sticks  to  a  squad  of  ninety ;  he  managed  to 
transfer  to  his  private  till  a  large  amount  of  money  sent  him  by  his  government, 
as  intimated  in  the  testimony  of  Captain  Wright ;  he  folded  his  arms  while  Colonel 
Persons  enlarged  the  stockade  and  removed  the  hospital,  work  which  belonged 
exclusively  to  him;  he  did  this,  omitting  to  do  many  things  that  were  not  only 
in  his  power,  but  which  it  was  his  duty  to  do,  leaving  the  post  finally  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  summer,  taking  away  nearly  everything,  as  Captain  Wright  says 
(record,  p.  2749;  manuscript,  p.  1178),  that  pertained  to  his  department.  Not, 
however,  until  by  his  acts  of  omission  and  commission  he  had  become  answerable 
for  the  deaths  of  hundreds  of  these  unfortunate  prisoners. 

Captain  W.  S.  Winder  remained  true  to  his  purpose,  as  declared  to  Mr.  Spencer, 
and  in  more  ways  than  one  demonstrated  how  true  was  his  declaration:  "I  am 
going  to  build  a  pen  here  that  will  kill  more  damned  Yankees  than  can  be  de 
stroyed  in  the  front." 

Dr.  Isaiah  H.  White,  an  important  adjunct  to  this  scheme,  and  indispensable 
to  its  faithful  execution,  was  at  the  head  of  the  hospital,  whence  he  reported  to 
his  superior  officers  at  Eichmond,  from  time  to  time,  the  dreadful  and  increasing 
mortality. 

The  prisoner  now  before  you,  despite  all  his  pretended  protests  at  the  time, 
despite  the  individual  and  widely  separated  instances  of  humanity  which  have 
been  paraded  here,  remained,  as  he  truly  said  in  his  letter  to  Major-General  Wilson, 
which  was  the  first  item  of  evidence  introduced  in  this  trial,  "the  tool  in  the 
hands  of  his  [my]  superiors."  (See  exhibit  number  1;  manuscript,  p.  1.)  He 
had  introduced  himself  to  the  prisoners  by  stopping  their  rations  the  first  day 
he  was  on  duty;  he  had  instituted,  between  that  time  and  the  time  of  General 
Winder's  arrival,  a  system  of  the  most  cruel  and  inhuman  punishments;  he  had 
made  his  name  a  terror  among  the  prisoners,  and  his  society  a  reproach  to  his 
comrades  upon  whom  he  inflicted  it;  he  had  established  the  dead-line  and  all 
its  accompanying  horrors;  he  had  given  the  prisoners  a  foreshadowing  of  the 
stocks,  of  the  balls  and  chains,  of  the  chain-gang,  of  starvation  as  a  punishment, 
and  all  that  black  catalogue  of  cruelty  and  suffering  unknown  even  to  a  "Dra- 


408  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

conian  code";  he  had  declared  to  several  of  the  prisoners  engaged  in  the  burial 
of  the  dead,  "This  is  the  way  I  give  the  Yankees  the  land  they  came  to  fight  for" ; 
he  had  scores  of  times  told  the  prisoners,  when  maltreating  them,  that  he  intended 
to  starve  them  to  death;  he  had  boasted  that  "he  was  doing  more  for  the  Con 
federacy  than  any  general  in  the  field";  he  had  paraded  the  chain-gang  for  the 
amusement  of  his  wife  and  daughters;  he  had  with  drawn  pistol  told  a  prisoner 
who  dared  to  complain  of  the  rations,  "Damn  you,  I'll  give  you  bullets  for  bread." 
Are  you  not  prepared  then  to  believe  that  at  the  time  of  General  Winder's  arrival 
the  prisoner  was  in  the  execution  of  the  common  design,  with  a  knowledge  of  its 
object,  and  acting  in  harmony  with  its  chief  instrument,  General  Winder? 

This  is  Andersonville  in  part,  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoners  in  part,  and  some 
thing  of  the  evidence  of  the  conspiracy  begun  and  continued  up  to  the  time  of 
General  Winder's  arrival.  « 

We  shall  see  now  whether  the  law  governing  this  question,  after  a  recital  of  the 
facts  which  follow,  does  not  direct  you  to  find  a  verdict  of  guilty. 

You  will  remember  that  when  Colonel  Persons  was  on  the  stand,  he  told  you 
that,  assuming  to  do  what  the  law  and  the  army  regulations  made  it  the  duty  of 
the  quartermaster  to  do,  and  which  in  this  case  Captain  Winder  had  wholly  neg 
lected  to  do,  he  sent  to  the  different  saw-mills  along  the  line  of  the  railroad  for 
lumber,  moved,  as  he  tells  you,  by  a  feeling  of  humanity  and  a  desire  to  alleviate, 
in  some  way,  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoners.  He  says  (record,  p.  608;  manu 
script,  p.  252)  :  "I  had  concentrated  there,  I  suppose,  about  five  or  six  trainloads 
of  lumber;  I  suppose  nearly  fifty  carloads." 

I  quote  further  from  the  record  the  following : 

Q.     Were  you  permitted  to  erect  a  shelter? 

A.  I  was  in  the  act  of  doing  so,  was  just  carrying  the  lumber,  when  I  was 
relieved. 

Q.     By  whom? 

A.     By  General  Winder. 

Q.     Had  he  arrived  on  the  same  day? 

A.     He  arrived  there  about  that  time. 

Q.     Was  your  plan  carried  out? 

A.  I  went  into  the  stockade  several  times  after  T  was  relieved  from  duty  and 
I  saw  no  shelter  there.  I  saw  forty  or  fifty  houses  springing  up  outside  of  the 
grounds.  The  lumber  disappeared  in  that  way. 

At  this  time,  the  journal  of  the  prison  shows  there  were  over  19,000  prisoners 
in  the  stockade.  This  was  the  first  official  act  of  General  Winder  on  his  arrival. 
It  was  the  third  time  Colonel  Persons  had  given  mortal  offense,  and  he  was  no 
longer  to  be  tolerated.  What  could  more  strongly  present  the  unmitigated 
diabolism  of  that  friend  of  President  Davis,  that  man  upon  the  order  relieving 
whom  the  rebel  chief  wrote,  "It  is  entirely  unnecessary  and  uncalled  for"?  This 
was  the  man  who  found  a  ready  advocate  in  the  rebel  premier,  Mr.  Benjamin, 
and  who  was  not  only  sustained  from  first  to  last  by  his  chief,  but  was  rewarded 
for  official  conduct  that  will  place  his  name  amongst  those  of  the  most  infamous 
of  any  age  or  clime. 

General  Winder's  second  act  was  to  establish  himself  comfortably  and  at  a 
respectful  distance  from  the  prison,  where  he  remained  from  the  first  of  June 
until  early  in  the  fall.  Notice  now,  as  we  advance,  how  the  sufferings  of  this 


THE  COUET  AND  THE  TRIAL.  409 

prison  increased;  how  everything  from  which  torture  and  death  could  result  was 
resorted  to;  how  all  those  methods  of  inhuman  punishment  instituted  by  the 
prisoner  were  approved  and  sanctioned  by  General  Winder,  and  that,  during  the 
whole  period  of  his  command,  not  a  single  act  is  recorded  which  does  not  prove 
him  to  have  been  not  only  "a  brutal  man,"  as  Mr.  Spencer  says  he  was,  but 
that  he  was  the  chief  instrument  in  the  hands  of  a  wicked,  treasonable  conspiracy 
to  murder  the  prisoners  of  war  in  his  custody.  He  came  there  with  authority 
unlimited,  with  discretion  to  do  whatever  circumstances  required  to  carry  out 
the  purposes  of  his  command.  In  an  appeal  published  by  him  to  the  citizens 
of  the  surrounding  counties  (see  exhibit  27;  manuscript,  p.  707)  he  calls  for 
"2,000  negroes  properly  supplied  with  axes,  spades,  and  picks,  and  supported 
by  the  requisite  number  of  wagons  and  teams,"  for  the  purpose  of  rendering 
more  hopeless  the  imprisonment  of  our  soldiers,  holding  over  the  people  of  that 
vicinity  the  terrors  of  impressment,  which,  in  this  appeal,  he  claims  to  have 
authority  to  make;  yet,  with  all  this  power,  with  all  these  appliances  at  hand,  and 
within  reach  of  his  call,  not  a  single  shelter  did  he  ever  erect;  not  a  ditch  did  he 
dig  to  drain  that  horrible  cesspool  below  the  stockade,  and  within  it;  not  a  tithe 
of  the  wood  absolutely  necessary  did  he  cause  to  be  taken  into  the  stockade;  not 
once  did  he  visit  that  place  over  which  he  had  supreme  control;  not  a  well  did  he 
cause  to  be  digged  within  it;  not  an  order  did  he  issue  to  abate  one  jot  or  tittle 
of  the  frightful  rigors  of  that  prison  pen;  not  a  kindly  or  humane  sentiment  has 
he  shown  during  that  whole  time  to  have  uttered  towards  these  prisoners  in  his 
custody.  On  the  contrary,  he  scattered  to  the  four  winds,  as  we  have  seen,  that 
immense  pile  of  lumber  accumulated  by  Colonel  Persons  for  the  purpose  of 
erecting  shelter  in  the  stockade;  he  approved  all  that  had  been  done  by  his 
subordinate,  the  prisoner,  even  recommending  him  for  promotion;  he  legalized 
the  detail  of  Turner,  who  was  a  Confederate  soldier,  to  take  command  of  a  pack 
of  hounds  to  run  down  prisoners,  and  afterwards  permanently  detached  him  from 
his  regiment  for  that  purpose;  he  authorized  and  ordered  the  hanging  of  six 
prisoners  of  war  within  the  stockade,  which,  by  all  the  laws  of  war,  was  no 
more  nor  less  than  murder,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned;  he 'brutally  refused  the 
philanthropic  ladies  of  Americus  twice  in  their  attempts  to  render  assistance  to 
the  sick  at  the  hospital,  even  intimating  on  one  of  those  occasions,  to  those  ladies 
of  the  highest  respectability,  that  a  repetition  of  their  humane  efforts  would 
bring  upon  themselves  a  punishment  too  infamous  to  be  named. 

Is  it  still  contended  that  there  was  no  conspiracy;  that  these  things  evinced 
no  common  design  to  destroy;  that  of  all  these  things  the  Eichmond  government 
was  in  blissful  ignorance?  Let  us  see.  On  the  21st  of  July,  1864,  General  Winder 
addressed  a  letter  to  the  war  department  at  Eichmond  (see  exhibit  17;  manu 
script,  p.  662),  dated  Andersonville,  in  which  he  uses  the  following  language 
before  quoted:  "You  speak  of  your  indorsement  of  placing  the  prisoners  properly. 
I  do  not  exactly  comprehend  what  is  intended  by  it;  I  know  but  of  one  way  to 
place  them,  and  that  is,  to  put  them  into  the  stockade,  where  they  have  between 
four  and  five  square  yards  to  the  man." 

Is  it  possible  that  he  did  not  comprehend  what  was  intended  by  the  war 
department?  Can  it  be  that  he  knew  of  but  one  way  to  place  those  prisoners 
properly? 


410  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

His  government  did  not  dare  to  speak  more  definitely,  nor  was  it  necessary, 
to  such  a  man  as  General  Winder,  occupying  the  position  he  did,  and  with  the 
letter  of  Eobert  Ould  in  his  private  desk,  written  as  early  as  March,  1863 — a 
private  letter  to  himself  and  indorsed  by  his  own  hand.  The  one  way  was  the 
way  given  in  his  original  instructions;  it  was  the  way  understood  by  W.  S. 
Winder,  when  he  said  it  was  the  intention  to  kill  more  Yankees  at  Anderson- 
ville  than  they  did  at  the  front;  it  was  the  way  meant,  and  well  understood  by 
General  Winder,  when  he  said  to  Mr.  Spencer  that,  for  his  own  part,  he  would  as 
lief  the  damned  Yankees  would  die  there  as  anywhere  else;  that,  upon  the  whole, 
he  did  not  know  that  it  was  not  better  for  them  (record,  p.  2467;  manuscript,  p. 
1054),  and  which  he  afterwards  disclosed  to  Colonel  Chandler  in  the  remark: 
"It  is  better  to  leave  them  in  their  present  condition  until  their  number  has  been 
sufficiently  reduced  by  death  to  make  the  present  arrangements  suffice  for  their 
accommodation." 

It  was  the  way  well  understood  by  the  rebel  government,  when,  in  the  face 
of  the  protests  of  humane  officers,  and  in  the  face  of  the  official  reports  of  the 
mortality  of  that  place,  they  continued  to  forward  prisoners,  trainload  after  train- 
load,  to  an  already  overcrowded  prison.  It  was  the  way  dictated  to  the  agent 
of  that  government,  Eobert  Ould,  and  revealed  by  him  in  his  letter  to  Winder 
(see  exhibit,  manuscript,  p.  1920)  when  he  declares,  speaking  of  exchanges:  "The 
arrangement  I  have  made  works  largely  in  our  favor.  We  get  rid  of  a  set  of 
miserable  wretches,  and  receive  in  return  some  of  the  best  material  I  ever  saw," 
adding,  "This,  of  course,  is  between  ourselves." 

It  was  the  way  understood  perfectly  by  General  Howell  Cobb,  when,  in  a  speech 
at  Andersonville,  he  pointed  with  terrible  significance  to  the  graveyard,  remarking : 
"That  is  the  way  I  would  care  for  them." 

It  was  the  way  well  understood  by  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  who  is  shown  to 
have  uttered  sentiments  similar  to  those  expressed  by  W.  S.  Winder  on  more  than 
a  hundred  occasions.  It  was  the  way,  and  the  only  way,  ever  indicated  by  the 
chief  of  the  rebel  government  and  his  secretary  of  war,  else  why  did  he,  with  this 
frightful  picture  before  him,  deliberately  fold  General's  Winder's  letter,  indorsing 
it  "Noted  filed.— J.  A.  S." 

Let  us  advance  another  step  in  the  evidence  connecting  the  Eichmond  govern 
ment  with  these  atrocities.  Colonel  D.  T.  Chandler,  of  the  rebel  war  depart 
ment,  pursuant  to  an  order  of  his  chief,  of  July  25,  1864,  directing  him  to  make 
an  inspection  at  Andersonville,  and  other  places  in  the  Confederacy,  submitted 
a  report  dated  Andersonville,  August  5,  1864,  and  which  reached  the  war  depart 
ment  August  17,  1864.  This  officer,  from  whose  report  we  have  already  quoted, 
gives  a  graphic  description  of  the  sufferings  of  the  prisoners  of  war,  and  in  earnest 
terms  beseeches  his  government  that  no  more  be  sent  forward  to  that  place,  and 
that  immediate  steps  be  taken  to  relieve  the  sufferings  of  those  prisoners  already 
there;  making  many  practical  suggestions  for  their  comfort  which  he  thought 
could  be  readily  carried  out.  In  a  supplemental  report,  also  dated  August  5th, 
and  which  was  received  in  Eichmond  with  the  report  first  named,  he  says: 

My  duty  requires  me  respectfully  to  recommend  a  change  in  the  officer  in  com 
mand  of  the  post,  Brigadier-general  John  H.  Winder,  and  the  substitution  in  his 
place  of  some  one  who  unites  both  energy  and  good  judgment  with  some  feelings 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TRIAL.  411 

of  humanity  and  consideration  for  the  welfare  and  comfort,  as  far  as  is  consistent 
with  their  safe-keeping,  of  the  vast  number  of  unfortunates  placed  under  his  con 
trol;  some  one  who,  at  least,  will  not  advocate  deliberately,  and  in  cold  blood,  the 
propriety  of  leaving  them  in  their  present  condition  until  their  number  has  been 
sufficiently  reduced  by  death  to  make  the  present  arrangements  suffice  for  their 
accommodation,  and  who  will  not  consider  it  a  matter  of  self -laudation  and  boast 
ing  that  he  has  never  been  inside  of  the  stockade. — a  place  the  horrors  of  which  it 
is  difficult  to  describe,  and  which  is  a  disgrace  to  civilization — the  condition  of 
which  he  might,  by  the  exercise  of  a  little  energy  and  judgment,  even  with  the 
limited  means  at  his  command,  have  considerably  improved. 

In  his  examination  touching  this  report,  Colonel  Chandler  says: 
I  noticed  that  General  Winder  seemed  very  indifferent  to  the  welfare  of  the 
prisoners,  indisposed  to  do  anything,  or  to  do  as  much  as  I  thought  he  ought  to  do, 
to  alleviate  their  sufferings.  I  remonstrated  with  him  as  well  as  I  could,  and  he 
used  that  language  which  I  reported  to  the  department  with  reference  to  it 
— the  language  stated  in  the  report.  When  I  spoke  of  the  great  mortality 
existing  among  the  prisoners,  and  pointed  out  to  him  that  the  sickly  season  was 
coming  on,  and  that  it  must  necessarily  increase  unless  something  was  done  for 
their  relief — the  swamp,  for  instance,  drained,  proper  food  furnished,  and  in 
better  quantity,  and  other  sanitary  suggestions  which  I  made  to  him — he  replied 
to  me  that  he  thought  it  was  better  to  see  half  of  them  die  than  to  take  care  of 
the  men. 

And  to  show  that  he  cannot  be  mistaken  In  what  he  avers,  Colonel  Chandler 
speaks  of  Major  Hall,  his  assistant,  having  first  reported  to  him  similar  language 
used  by  General  Winder  to  him,  and  remarks:  "I  told  Major  Hall  that  I  thought 
it  incredible,  that  he  must  be  mistaken.  He  told  me  no,  that  he  had  not  only  said 
it  once,  but  twice;  and,  as  I  have  stated,  he  subsequently  made  use  of  this 
expression  to  me." 

Let  us  now  see  what  the  rebel  government  had  to  do  with  this  report.  As 
I  before  remarked,  it  reached  Richmond  on  the  17th  day  of  August.  Immediately 
on  its  reception,  as  we  learn  from  Captain  C.  M.  Selph,  of  the  rebel  war  depart 
ment,  it  was  carefully  briefed,  and  extracts  made  and  sent  to  the  heads  of 
the  different  bureaus,  the  commissary-general  and  the  quartermaster-general;  a 
report  of  Dr.  White's,  an  enclosure  of  Colonel  Chandler's  report,  being  sent  to 
the  surgeon-general.  The  entire  report  was  then  laid  before  the  secretary  of 
war,  Mr.  Seddon,  and  there  cannot  be  a  shadow  of  doubt  that  it  was  immedi 
ately,  and  fully,  and  seriously  considered;  nor  can  there  be  any  doubt  that  Mr. 
Davis  and  his  war  minister  conferred  together  with  regard  to  this  momentous 
subject. 

Captain  Selph,  speaking  of  a  conversation  between  himself  and  Colonel  Woods, 
a  staff  officer  of  Jefferson  Davis,  in  regard  to  the  prison  at  Andersonville,  says: 
"During  that  conversation  I  obtained  the  impression  that  President  Davis  had 
some  knowledge  of  it."  (Record,  p.  1161;  manuscript,  p.  659.)  "This,"  he  says 
again,  "was  subsequent  to  the  receipt  of  Colonel  Chandler's  report." 

To  the  question,  "Would  a  paper  of  this  kind,  on  a  subject  of  this  magnitude, 
find  its  way  to  the  president  of  the  so-called  Confederate  States  in  the  ordinary 
course  of  proceedings?"  he  answers,  "Yes,  sir;  I  think  it  would." 

It  will  not  do  to  say  that  this  report  was  buried  among  the  multitude 
of  papers  that  arrived  daily  in  the  war  office,  or  that  lay  upon  Mr.  Seddon's  table 
with  piles  of  other  papers  unnoticed.  Mr.  J.  B.  Jones,  private  secretary  to  Mr. 


412  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

Seddon,  says  (record,  p.  2836;  manuscript,  p.  1218)  that  he  remembers  when 
the  report  was  received,  but  only  read  the  headings  enough  to  see  the  purport  of 
it;  and  adds  that  he  thinks  it  was  sent  for  by  the  secretary  of  war.  Mr.  K.  T.  H. 
Kean,  chief  of  the  bureau  of  war,  says  that  he  saw  it  lying  on  the  secretary's 
table.  He  also  speaks  of  a  conversation  between  himself  and  the  assistant  secre 
tary  of  war,  Judge  Campbell,  in  which  the  report  was  spoken  of,  and  in  which 
Judge  Campbell,  speaking  of  the  fearful  mortality,  remarked,  "This  looks  very 
bad."  Captain  Selph  also  testifies  that  the  report  excited  general  comment  in  the 
department. 

But  we  are  not  left  with  this  evidence  alone.  This  report  was  not  sent  in  like 
ordinary  inspection  reports,  but  special  attention  was  drawn  to  it  by  three  officials. 
On  the  day  of  its  receipt,  it  was  submitted  to  the  secretary  of  war,  as  the  follow 
ing  indorsement  proves,  beyond  doubt: 

ADJUTANT  AND  INSPECTOR-GENERAL'S  OFFICE,  August  18,  1864. 
Eespectfully  submitted  to  the  secretary  of  war.     The  condition  of  the  prison  at 
Andersonville  is  a  reproach  to  us  as  a  nation.     The  engineer  and  ordnance  depart 
ments  were  applied  to  for  implements,  and  authorized  their  issue,  and  I  so  tele 
graphed  General  Winder.     Colonel  Chandler's  recommendations  are  coincided  in. 
By  order  of  General  Cooper:  R.  H.  CHILTON, 

Assistant  Adjutant  and  Inspector-General. 

The  report  passed  through  the  hands  of  R.  B.  Welford,  a  confidential  clerk 
employed  in  the  war  department  for  his  legal  abilities,  who  also  made  a  brief 
analysis,  strongly  commending  Colonel  Chandler's  recommendation,  Mr.  Welford's 
analysis  being  again  indorsed,  and  the  whole  laid  before  the  secretary  by  J.  A. 
Campbell,  assistant  secretary  of  war,  with  the  following  indorsement: 

These  reports  show  a  condition  of  things  at  Andersonville  which  calls  very 
loudly  for  the  interposition  of  the  department  in  order  that  a  change  may  be  made. 

J.  A.  CAMPBELL, 
Assistant  Secretary  of  War. 

What  more  could  have  been  needed,  or  what  more  done,  to  bring  authoritatively 
and  strongly  before  the  proper  authorities  at  Richmond  the  subject  of  the 
Andersonville  sufferings?  Here  were  an  intelligent  inspecting  officer  of  high 
rank,  Colonel  Chandler,  the  chief  of  the  inspector's  bureau,  Colonel  Chilton, 
the  chief  of  the  bureau  of  war,  Mr.  Kean,  a  confidential  clerk,  Mr.  Welford, 
and  the  assistant  secretary  of  war,  Judge  Campbell,  all  pressing  in  the  strongest 
terms  the  necessity  of  an  immediate  interposition  by  the  department,  and  not 
hesitating  to  declare  the  prison  at  Andersonville  "a  reproach  to  them  as  a 
nation."  These  appeals  might  have  moved  hearts  of  stone,  but  addressed  as 
they  were  to  these  representatives  of  a  government  based  upon  wrong  and  injustice, 
that  had  its  origin  in  a  treasonable  conspiracy  to  overthrow  the  best  govern 
ment  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  however  much  they  may  have  moved  the  hearts 
of  those  representatives  as  individuals,  they  seem  to  have  felt  it  their  duty  to 
adhere  to  a  purpose  so  cruelly  and  wickedly  begun  and  thus  far  so  faithfully 
carried  out;  and  they  dared  not,  or  would  not — for  it  is  certain  they  did  not — 
abandon,  even  then,  this  atrocious  conspiracy.  Mr.  Kean  says  he  is  not  aware 
the  report  was  ever  acted  upon.  Captain  Selph  says  the  same,  and  we  learn 
from  his  testimony  that  the  report  remained  with  the  secretary,  never  having 
come  back  to  the  inspector-general's  department,  where  it  properly  belonged,  till 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TRIAL.  413 

about  the  time  Mr.  Breckinridge  succeeded  Mr.  Seddon — some  time  in  1865 — 
when  Colonel  Chandler  having  returned  and  demanded  that  some  action  should 
be  taken  on  the  report  or  he  would  resign,  it  was  brought  to  light  and  laid  before 
Mr.  Breckinridge,  who  would  have  acted  upon  it,  as  Captain  Selph  thinks,  but 
for  the  rapid  change  of  affairs  in  the  Confederacy,  and  the  dissolution  of  their 
government  soon  after. 

And  here  let  me  diverge  a  moment  and  follow  a  portion  of  this  remarkable 
report  to  the  surgeon-general's  office.  We  find  indorsed  upon  exhibit  24  (manu 
script,  p.  695)  the  following: 

Surgeon  White  was  authorized  some  time  since  to  send  his  requisitions  for 
supplies  directly  to  the  medical  purveyor.  Not  having  supplies  is  his  own  fault; 
he  should  have  anticipated  the  wants  of  the  sick  by  timely  requisitions.  It  is 
impossible  to  order  medical  officers  in  place  of  the  contract  physicians.  They  are 
not  to  be  had  at  present.  S.  P.  MOORE,  Surgeon- General. 

This  is  the  flippant  indorsement  of  the  surgeon-general,  and  the  only  evidence 
showing  his  notice  of  the  condition  of  things  at  Andersonville,  and  this  is  all 
that  he  seems  to  have  done  in  the  matter,  while  Dr.  White  was  allowed  to  remain 
in  charge  of  the  hospital,  which,  as  described  by  the  surgeons  who  were  on  duty 
with  him,  seems  to  have  been  little  else  than  a  dead-house.  .  .  . 

It  is  strange,  truly,  that  the  surgeon-general  passed  over  the  matter  with  so 
slight  a  notice  of  it,  when  we  remember  that,  several  weeks  previously,  it  is 
shown  that  he  had  the  whole  matter  before  his  office  and  took  action  upon  it, 
which  makes  him  no  less  culpable  than  the  others  we  have  mentioned.  He  had 
called  into  his  counsels  an  eminent  medical  gentleman,  of  high  attainments  in 
his  profession,  and  of  loyalty  to  the  rebel  government  unquestionable.  Amid 
all  the  details  in  this  terrible  tragedy,  there  seems  to  me  none  more  heartless, 
wanton  and  utterly  devoid  of  humanity,  than  that  revealed  by  the  surgeon-general, 
to  which  I  am  about  to  refer.  I  quote  now  from  the  report  of  the  same  Dr. 
Joseph  Jones,  which,  he  says,  was  made  in  the  interest  of  the  Confederate  gov 
ernment  for  the  use  of  the  medical  department,  in  the  view  that  no  eye  would  ever 
see  it  but  that  of  the  surgeon-general. 

After  a  brief  introduction  to  his  report,  and  to  show  under  what  authority  it 
was  made,  he  quotes  a  letter  from  the  surgeon-general  dated  "Surgeon-General's 
Office,  Richmond,  Virginia,  August  6,  1864."  The  letter  is  addressed  to  Surgeon 
I.  H.  White,  in  charge  of  the  hospital  for  Federal  prisoners,  Andersonville, 
and  on  September  17th  reecived  the  following  pass: 

SIR:  The  field  of  pathological  investigation  afforded  by  the  large  collection  of 
Federal  prisoners  in  Georgia  is  of  great  extent  and  importance,  and  it  is  believed 
that  results  of  value  to  the  profession  may  be  obtained  by  careful  examination  of 
the  effect  of  disease  upon  a  body  of  men  subjected  to  a  decided  change  of  climate 
and  the  circumstances  peculiar  to  prison  life.  The  surgeon  in  charge  of  the  hos 
pital  for  Federal  prisoners,  together  with  his  assistants,  will  afford  every  facility 
to  Surgeon  Joseph  Jones  in  the  prosecution  of  the  labors  ordered  by  the  surgeon- 
general.  The  medical  officers  will  assist  in  the  performance  of  such  post  mortems 
as  Dr.  Jones  may  indicate,  in  order  that  this  great  field  for  pathological  investiga 
tion  may  be  explored  for  the  benefit  of  the  medical  department  of  the  Confederate 
armies,  S.  P.  MOORE,  Surgeon-General. 

Pursuant  to  his  orders,  Dr.  Jones,  as  he  tells  us,  proceeded  to  Andersonville, 
and  on  September  17th  received  the  following  pass: 


414  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

ANDERSONVILLE,  September  17,  1864. 

CAPTAIN:     You  will  permit   Surgeon  Joseph  Jones,  who  has  orders   from  the 
surgeon-general,  to  visit  the  sick  within  the  stockade  that  are  under  my  medical 
treatment.     Surgeon  Jones  is  ordered  to  make  certain  investigations  which  may 
prove  useful  to  Ms  profession. 
By  order  of  General  Winder: 

Very  respectfully, 

W.  S.  WINDER,  A.  A.  G. 
Captain  H.  WIRZ,  Commanding  Prison. 

When  we  remember  that  the  surgeon-general  had  been  apprised  of  the  wants 
of  that  prison,  and  that  he  had  overlooked  the  real  necessities  of  the  prison, 
shifting  the  responsibility  upon  Dr.  White,  who  he  must  have  known  was  totally 
incompetent,  it  is  hard  to  conceive  with  what  devilish  malice,  or  criminal  devotion 
to  his  profession,  or  reckless  disregard  of  the  high  duties  imposed  upon  him — I. 
scarcely  know  which — he  could  sit  down  and  deliberately  pen  such  a  letter  of  in* 
structions  as  that  given  to  Dr.  Jones. 

Was  it  not  enough  to  have  cruelly  starved  and  murdered  our  soldiers?  Was 
it  not  enough  to  have  sought  to  wipe  out  their  very  memories  by  burying  them 
in  nameless  graves?  Was  it  not  enough  to  have  instituted  a  system  of  medical 
treatment  the  very  embodiment  of  charlatanism?  Was  this  not  enough,  with 
out  adding  to  the  many  other  diabolical  motives  which  must  have  governed  the 
perpetrators  of  these  acts,  this  scientific  object,  as  deliberate  and  cold-blooded 
as  one  can  conceive?  The  surgeon-general  could  quiet  his  conscience,  when  the 
matter  was  laid  before  him  through  Colonel  Chandler,  by  indorsing  that  it  was 
impossible  to  send  medical  officers  to  take  the  place  of  the  contract  physicians 
on  duty  at  Andersonville.  Yet  he  could  select,  at  the  same  time,  a  distinguished 
gentleman  of  the  medical  profession  and  send  him  to  Andersonville,  directing 
the  whole  force  of  surgeons  there  to  render  him  every  assistance,  leaving 
their  multiplied  duties  for  that  purpose!  Why?  Not  to  alleviate  the  suffer 
ings  of  the  prisoners;  not  to  convey  to  them  one  ounce  more  of  nutritious 
food;  to  make  no  suggestions  for  the  improvement  of  their  sanitary  condition; 
for  no  purpose  of  the  kind;  but,  as  the  letter  of  instructions  itself  shows,  for 
no  other  purpose  than  "that  this  great  field  for  pathological  investigation  may  be 
explored  for  the  benefit  of  the  medical  department  of  the  Confederate  armies." 
The  Andersonville  prison,  so  far  as  the  surgeon-general  is  concerned,  was  a 
mere  dissecting-room,  a  clinic  institute  to  be  made  tributary  to  the  medical 
department  of  the  Confederate  armies.  But  let  me  return  from  this  digression. 
One  can  hardly  believe  all  these  things  of  a  government  pretending  to  struggle 
for  a  place  among  civilized  nations,  yet  horrible  as  it  seems,  the  facts  cannot  be 
resisted.  Do  I  injustice  to  the  leaders  of  the  Rebellion?  Have  I  drawn  infer 
ences  that  are  unwarrantable?  Is  it  indeed  true  that  these  men,  high  in  authority, 
are  not  responsible?  I  think  not;  motives  are  presumed  from  actions,  and  actions 
speak  louder  than  words.  What  was  the  action  of  Jefferson  Davis  and  his 
war  minister  upon  these  reports?  The  papers  were  pigeonholed  in  the  secretary's 
office,  not  even  being  dignified  by  being  placed  upon  the  regular  files  in  the  proper 
office,  while  General  Winder,  the  chief  accomplice,  instead  of  being  removed 
immediately,  and  broken  of  his  commission,  and  tried  for  violation  of  the  laws 
of  war — for  cruelty,  inhumanity,  and  murder;  instead  of  being  held  up  by 


THE  COUKT  AND  THE  TRIAL.  415 

that  government  as  a  warning  to  others,  giving  a  color  of  justice  to  their 
cause,  was  promoted,  rewarded,  and  given  a  command  of  wider  scope  and 
greater  power,  but  still  in  a  position  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  his  govern 
ment  towards  prisoners  of  war.  History  is  full  of  examples  similar  in  character, 
where  a  government,  seeking  to  carry  out  its  ends,  has  selected  as  tools  men 
not  unlike  General  Winder,  and  history,  faithful  in  the  narration  of  the  facts,  is 
faithful  also  in  fixing  upon  the  government  who  employed  such  persons,  and 
sustained  and  rewarded  them,  the  responsibility  for  the  acts  of  their  agents. 
James  II  had  his  Jeffreys,  Philip  II  his  Duke  of  Alva,  Louis  XIV  his  Duke 
de  Louvois,  the  Emperor  of  Austria  his  Haynau,  and  Jefferson  Davis  his  Winder. 
The  closest  scrutiny  of  the  immense  record  of  this  trial  will  show  that,  up  to  the 
very  close  of  that  prison,  there  were  no  steps  taken  by  the  rebel  government, 
by  General  Winder,  or  by  any  of  the  officers  of  his  staff  clothed  with  proper 
authority,  to  alleviate  in  any  material  particular  the  great  sufferings  of  that 
place.  You  will  remember  the  uniform  testimony  of  the  medical  officers,  as 
well  as  of  the  prisoners  who  remained  there  during  the  winter  of  1864  and 
1865,  that  there  was  no  perceptible  change  in  the  condition  of  the  prison,  and 
an  examination  of  the  hospital  register,  and  the  death  register,  will  show  that 
the  mortality  was  even  greater  during  that  period,  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  prisoners  confined,  than  it  was  during  the  months  of  its  most  crowded  condi 
tion.  From  the  prison  journal,  kept  by  the  prisoner  himself,  we  find  that  in 
September,  the  mean  number  of  prisoners  being  17,000,  the  deaths  were  2,700; 
in  October,  the  mean  strength  being  about  6,700,  the  number  of  deaths  was 
1,560 — nearly  one  out  of  every  five;  in  November,  the  mean  strength  being 
2,300,  the  deaths  were  485;  while  those  who  remained  to  the  very  close,  till 
the  prison  was  broken  up,  are  described  by  General  Wilson  and  others  as  having 
been  "mere  skeletons,"  "shadows  of  men."  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  the 
marks  of  this  cruelty  were  so  indelibly  stamped  upon  its  victims  that  thousands 
who  survived  are  yet  cripples,  and  will  carry  to  their  graves  the  evidence  of  the 
horrible  treatment  to  which  they  were  subjected.  The  surgeons  of  our  army 
who  treated  those  shadows  of  men  when  they  arrived  within  our  lines  at  Jack 
sonville  and  Hilton  Head  tell  you  of  hundreds  who  died  before  they  could  be 
resuscitated;  of  others  permanently  disabled;  of  others  who,  upon  their  partial 
recovery,  were  started  on  their  way  homeward,  being  again  treated  at  Annapolis. 
Dr.  Vanderkieft,  of  our  army,  speaks  of  the  condition  of  those  prisoners  while 
under  his  treatment  at  that  place.  He  says:  "They  were  reduced,  suffering  from 
chronic  diarrhoea  and  scurvy;  some  of  them  in  a  dying  condition;  some  of  them 
died  a  few  days  after  they  arrived;  and  those  who  did  recover  were  obliged  to 
remain  a  long  time  in  hospital  before  they  were  able  to  return  to  their  homes." 

And  with  that  certainty  with  which  science  reasons  from  effect  to  cause  often 
times,  after  describing  the  condition  of  the  men  as  it  has  been  brought  out  in 
this  testimony,  he  concludes,  "The  symptoms  and  condition  of  the  patients  pre 
sented  cases  of  starvation."  Nor  must  it  be  forgotten,  in  the  summing  up  of  the 
cumulative  proofs  of  the  Andersonville  horrors,  that  numerous  photographs  of 
returned  prisoners  were  introduced  here,  and  identified  by  Drs.  Vanderkieft, 
Balser,  and  others,  as  representing  cases  no  worse  than  hundreds  and  thousands 
they  had  seen.  So  impressive  indeed  and  so  strong  seemed  this  evidence  of 


416  THE  TBAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONV1LLE. 

rebel  cruelty,  that  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner  sought,  in  his  cross-examination, 
to  show  that  they  were  fancy '  sketches.*  Are  we  told  that  these  things  are 
improbable,  and  cannot  be  believed,  because  it  is  said  that  Mr.  Davis  is  a  good 
man,  not  capable  of  such  cruelty?  Are  we  told  that  no  direct  order  of  his  is 
shown,  and  therefore,  notwithstanding  all  these  facts  and  circumstances  narrated, 
he  must  be  acquitted  of  all  blame?  The  law  governing  cases  of  conspiracy  does 
not  require  us  to  show  a  direct  order;  circumstances  from  which  guilt  may  be 
inferred  are  sufficient.  The  rebel  chief  did  not  find  it  necessary  to  issue  direct 
instructions,  nor  indeed  could  it  reasonably  be  expected.  He  was  too  wary,  too 
sagacious  for  that.  Michelet  relates  an  anecdote  of  Louis  XV,  not  malapropos: 

The  illustrious  Quesney,  physician  to  Louis  XV,  who  lived  in  the  house  of  the 
latter  at  Versailles,  saw  the  king  one  day  rush  in  suddenly,  and  felt  alarmed. 
Madame  D.  Haussett,  the  witty  femme  de  chambre,  inquired  of  him  why  he 
seemed  so  uneasy.  "Madame,"  returned  he,  "whenever  I  see  the  king,  I  say  to 
myself,  there  is  a  man  who  can  cut  my  head  off."  "Oh!"  said  she,  "he  is  too 
good." 

The  lady's  maid  thus  summed  up  in  one  word  the  guarantees  of  monarchy. 
The  king  was  too  good  to  cut  the  man's  head  off;  "that  was  no  longer  agreeable 
to  custom;  but  he  could  with  one  word  send  him  to  the  Bastile,  and  there  forget 
him.  It  remains  to  be  seen  whether  it  is  better  to  perish  with  one  blow,  or  suffer 
a  lingering  death  for  thirty  or  forty  years."  Mr.  Davis  was  not  capable  of  being 
the  instrument  of  death.  He  was  too  good  to  be  keeper  of  a  prison  and  withhold 
from  starving  men  their  scanty  rations;  but  he  could  send  them  out  of  his  sight, 
away  from  the  prison  in  plain  view  of  his  own  residence,  into  the  dense  forests 
of  Georgia,  and  there  forget  them.  If  Jefferson  Davis  be  ever  brought  to  trial 
for  his  many  crimes — and  may  Heaven  spare  the  temple  of  justice  if  he  be  not!  — 
it  will  not  do  for  him  to  upbraid  and  accuse  his  willing  tools,  Winder  and  Wirz, 
as  King  John  did  Hubert  for  the  death  of  Prince  Arthur;  they  will  turn 
upon  him  -  and  say,  "  'Here  is  your  hand  and  seal  for  what  I  did.'  And  in  the 
winking  of  authority,  did  we  understand  a  law." 

THE  LAW  OF  NATIONS. 

Before  advancing  further  in  the  argument,  let  us  define  briefly  the  laws  of 
war,  which,  it  is  alleged  by  the  government  in  its  indictment  against  this  prisoner 
and  his  co-conspirators,  have  been  inhumanly  and  atrociously  violated.  One 
would  suppose  that  an  enlightened  conscience  need  not  consult  the  opinions  of 
writers  upon  law  or  ethics  to  determine  the  violation  of  rules  governing  civ 
ilized  warfare  with  sufficient  certainty  to  condemn  the  treatment  of  prisoners  at 
Andersonville ;  yet,  as  the  averment  is  traversed  by  the  prisoner,  and  it  is  insisted 
that  no  violation  of  the  humane  principles  governing  nations  in  war  is  shown, 
I  must  trespass  upon  the  court  a  moment  before  proceeding.  In  the  forum  of 
nations  there  is  a  higher  law,  a  law  paramount  to  any  rule  of  action  prescribed 
by  either  of  them,  and  which  cannot  be  abrogated  or  nullified  by  either.  What 
ever  the  peculiar  forms  or  rights  of  this  or  that  government,  its  subjects  acquire 
no  control  or  power  other  than  is  sanctioned  by  the  great  tribunal  of  nations. 
We  turn  then  to  the  code  international,  where  the  purest  morals,  the  highest 
sense  of  justice,  the  most  exalted  principles  of  ethics,  are  the  corner-stones,  that 
we  may  learn  to  be  guided  in  our  duties  to  this  prisoner. 

1  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  these  photographs  were  not  preserved,  for  had  they  been  they 
would  have  strongly  corroborated  the  testimony  of  witnesses. 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TKIAL.  417 

Grotius  derived  the  jus  gentium  from  the  practice  of  nations,  and  living  in 
an  age  when  the  greatest  cruelties  were  practiced  in  the  operations  of  warfare, 
his  rules  as  laid  down  often  seem  to  have  been  the  inspiration  of  barbarity  itself, 
rather  than  laws  which  should  govern  nations ;  yet  even  he,  in  Books  3  and  4,  insists 
that  all  acts  of  violence  which  have  no  tendency  to  obtain  justice  or  terminate 
the  war  are  at  variance  both  with  the  duty  of  the  Christian  and  with  humanity 
itself. 

Manning,  an  author  of  great  force  and  clearness,  says: 

At  the  present  day  a  mild  and  humane  treatment  exists  with  regard  to  prisoners 
of  war,  which  is  perhaps  in  some  degree  attributable  to  the  deference  paid  to  the 
writings  of  Vattel,  who  appeared  to  have  been  the  first  author  who  established 
the  true  principle  upon  which  prisoners  should  be  treated.  He  says  that,  "as  soon 
as  your  enemy  has  laid  down  his  arms  and  surrendered  his  person,  you  have  no 
longer  any  right  over  his  life  unless  he  should  give  you  such  right  by  some  new 
attempt,  or  had  before  committed  against  you  a  crime  deserving  death."  "Prison 
ers  of  war,"  he  says,  "may  be  secured  but  cannot  be  made  slaves  unless  for  personal 
guilt  which  deserves  death,  nor  be  slain  unless  we  be  perfectly  assured  that  our 
safety  demands  such  a  sacrifice." 

After  having  discussed  at  some  length  this  subject,  he  sums  up  the  whole 
question  thus: 

It  may  be  remarked  in  conclusion  that  the  same  principles  which  have  been 
appealed  to  in  the  preceding  chapter  afford  also  a  clue  to  the  right  treatment  of 
prisoners  of  war.  The  usages  of  former  ages  proceeded  upon  the  supposition  that 
any  violence  was  allowed  in  warfare  and  that  the  rights  of  the  victor  upon  the 
vanquished  were  unlimited,  and  that  having  the  right  to  deprive  his  antagonist  of 
life,  the  captor  had  a  right  to  impose  any  treatment  more  lenient  than  death  upon 
his  prisoner.  But  we  have  seen  that  so  far  from  the  rights  of  the  belligerent  being 
unlimited,  the  law  of  nature  strictly  limits  them  to  such  violence  as  is  necessary, 
that  thus,  when  an  antagonist  no  longer  resists,  there  can  no  longer  be  any  right 
to  use  viojence  towards  him;  and  that  whenever  the  purposes  of  warfare  are  not 
frustrated  by  the  granting  of  quarter,  the  belligerent  cannot  refuse  to  give  quarter 
without  a  direct  violation  of  the  law  of  nature,  which  warrants  no  further  hard 
ships  towards  prisoners  than  is  required  by  the  purposes  of  safe  custody  and 
security. 

Another  author  remarks: 

Prisoners  of  war  are  indeed  sometimes  killed,  but  this  is  not  otherwise  justifiable 
than  it  is  made  necessary  either  by  themselves,  if  they  make  use  of  force  against 
those  who  have  taken  them,  or  by  others  who  make  use  of  force  in  their  behalf 
and  render  it  impossible  to  keep  them;  and  as  we  may  collect  from  the  reason 
of  the  thing,  so  it  likewise  appears  from  common  opinion,  that  nothing  but  the 
strongest  necessity  will  justify  such  an  act,  for  the  civilized  and  thinking  part  of 
mankind  will  hardly  be  persuaded  not  to  condemn  it  "till  they  see  the  absolute 
necessity  of  it.  (Eutherforth's  Institutes,  page  525.) 

Kent,  in  speaking  of  the  barbarous  usages  of  war,  checked  and  done  away  with 
by  the  progress  of  civilization,  says: 

"Public  opinion,  as  it  becomes  enlightened  and  refined,  condemns  all  cruelty 
and  all  wanton  destruction  of  life  and  property  as  equally  useless  and  injurious, 
and  it  controls  the  violence  of  war  by  the  energy  and  severity  of  its  reproaches. 
.  .  .  Grotius,  even  in  opposition  to  many  of  his  own  authorities  and  under  a  due 
sense  of  the  obligations  of  religion  and  humanity,  placed  bounds  to  the  ravages  of 
war,  and  mentioned  that  many  things  were  not  fit  and  commendable,  though  they 
might  be  strictly  lawful;  and  that  the  law  of  nature  forbade  what  the  law  of 
nations  (meaning  thereby  the  practices  of  nations)  tolerated.  .  .  .  Montesquieu 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TEIAL.  419 

insisted  that  the  laws  of  war  give  no  other  power  over  a  captive  than  to  keep 
him  safely,  and  that  all  unnecessary  rigor  is  condemned  by  the  reason  and  con 
science  of  mankind.  .  .  .  Vattel  has  entered  largely  into  the  subject,  and  he 
argues  with  great  strength  and  reason  and  eloquence  against  all  unnecessary 
cruelty,  all  base  revenge,  and  all  mean  and  perfidious  warfare;  and  he  recommends 
his  benevolent  doctrine  by  the  precepts  of  exalted  ethics  and  sound  policy,  and  by 
illustrations  drawn  from  some  of  the  most  pathetic  and  illustrious  examples." 

To  the  same  effect  writes  Wheaton  and  Halleck. 

So  strongly  did  the  principles  here  laid  down  impress  themselves  upon  our 
government,  that  during  General  Jackson's  administration  Mr.  Livingston,  then 
secretary  of  state,  instructed  Mr.  Buchanan,  our  minister  in  Eussia,  to  insert  in 
the  treaty  proposed  to  be  negotiated  stipulations  "in  order  to  restrain  citizens 
or  subjects  of  the  one  or  the  other  of  the  high  contracting  parties  respectively 
from  infringing  any  of  the  known  rules  of  modern  warfare,"  and  among  other 
things  mentions  "for  injuries  offered  to  the  bearers  of  flags  of  truce,  for  the 
massacre  of  prisoners  who  have  surrendered,  for  the  mutilation  of  the  dead,  for 
other  breaches  either  of  this  treaty  or  of  the  laws  of  nations;  for  preserving  peace 
or  lessening  the  evils  of  war." 

The  object  of  this,  Mr.  Livingston  said,  was  "to  express  a  national  reprobation 
of  the  doctrine  which  considers  a  state  of  war  as  one  of  declared  hostilities  between 
every  individual  of  the  belligerent  nations  respectively.  ...  To  massacre  an 
unresisting  and  unarmed  enemy,  to  poison  his  provisions  and  water,  to  assassinate 
a  prisoner,  and  other  similar  acts,  are  universally  acknowledged  to  be  breaches 
of  international  law,  and  to  justify  retaliation  and  an  increase  of  the  horrors  of 
war."  (Ex.  Doc.  No.  Ill,  1st  sess.  33d  Congress,  H.  E.) 

It  would  seem  that  these  teachings,  so  long  recognized,  so  long  practiced  by 
civilized  nations,  ought  to  have  found  some  advocate  even  among  the  councils 
of  treason.  Whatever  the  form  of  government  may  have  been  to  which  the 
leaders  of  the  Confederacy,  so-called,  aspired;  whatever  of  wrong  and  injustice 
they  sought  to  embody  in  their  system,  with  whatever  of  oppression  and 
tyranny  they  sought  to  grind  down  their  subjects,  the  moment  they  asked  a 
place  among  the  nations  they  were  bound  to  recognize  and  obey  those  laws  inter 
national  which  are  and  of  necessity  must  be  applicable  alike  to  all.  With  what 
detestation,  then,  must  civilized  nations  regard  that  government  whose  conduct 
has  been  such  as  characterized  this  pretended  Confederacy.  An  ordinary  com 
prehension  of  natural  right,  the  faintest  desire  to  act  on  principles  of  common 
justice,  would  have  dictated  some  humane  action,  would  have  extorted  from 
some  official  a  recognition  of  international  rules  of  conduct.  It  was  not  retalia 
tion,  for  they  had  the  example  of  our  government,  in  sending  to  their  homes 
on  parole  whole  armies  that  had  been  captured;  it  was  not  punishment,  for  these 
unfortunate  prisoners  had  been  taken  in  honorable  battle;  it  was  not  ignorance 
of  the  law,  for  they  had  constantly  with  them  all  those  great  lights  just  quoted, 
and  if  these  failed  to  convince,  they  could  have  found  recorded  back  of  these, 
"If  thine  enemy  hunger,  feed  him,"  and  still  further  back  they  might  have 
found  an  example  worthy  of  imitation,  which  I  cannot  refrain  from  here  giving. 
A  large  number  of  Syrians  had  been  by  a  cunning  piece  of  strategy  taken  captive,, 
and  became  prisoners  of  war,  whereupon  the  following  dialogue  occurred:  "And 
the  King  of  Israel  said  unto  Elisha,  when  he  saw  them,  my  father  shall  I  smite 


420  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONViLLE. 

them?  Shall  I  smite  them?  And  he  answered,  thou  shalt  not  smite  them; 
wouldst  thou  smite  those  whom  thou  hast  taken  captive  with  thy  sword  and  with 
thy  bow?  Set  bread  and  water  before  them,  that  they  may  eat  and  drink  and  go 
to  their  master.  And  he  prepared  great  provision  for  them;  and  when  they  had 
eaten  and  drunk  he  sent  them  away  and  they  went  to  their  master.  (2  Kings, 
ch.  vii.) 

No  gentlemen,  it  was  not  retaliation,  punishment,  nor  ignorance  of  the  law; 
it  was  the  intrinsic  wickedness  of  a  few  desperate  leaders,  seconded  by  mercenary 
and  heartless  monsters,  of  whom  the  prisoner  before  you  is  a  fair  type. 

CRUELTIES  PRACTICED  TOWARDS  PRISONERS. 

Thus  far  we  have  not  pretended  to  enter  with  any  particularity  into  the  ques 
tions  of  the  cruel  treatment  of  prisoners.  There  may  be  two  objects,  or  two 
reasons,  for  at  this  time  dwelling  more  in  detail  upon  the  conduct  of  the  prisoner. 
These  are,  first,  to  connect  him  more  certainly  with  the  conspiracy,  and,  second, 
to  enable  us  more  understandingly  to  examine  the  second  charge.  Here,  as  at 
other  points  in  the  argument,  I  desire  only  to  present  the  evidence,  avoiding  all 
embellishment  and  all  argumentation,  for  this  case  must  be  decided  upon  the  facts 
proven,  and  not  the  coloring  of  counsel. 

I  cannot  hope  to  recapitulate  all  the  facts  bearing  upon  this  point,  as  it  will 
be  remembered  that  each  day's  record  bears  witness  to  an  accumulation  of  horrible 
details  which  there  can  be  no  necessity  for  now  repeating,  and  to  give  all  of  which 
would  require  almost  the  entire  proceedings  to  be  duplicated.  We  may,  how 
ever,  perhaps  to  some  purpose,  present  briefly  the  proofs  of  each  phase  of  cruelty 
alleged. 

The  judge  advocate  then  takes  up  the  evidence  of  the  numerous 
forms  of  cruelty  inflicted  on  the  prisoners — the  stoppage  of  rations, 
which  must  have  contributed  greatly  to  the  mortality;  the  dead-line, 
with  its  numerous  victims;  the  stocks,  the  chain-gang,  and  other 
means  of  punishment ;  the  use  of  ferocious  dogs  to  run  down  escaped 
prisoners.  Upon  this  last  of  the  methods  of  prison  government  some 
remarks  of  the  judge  advocate  should  be  read.  I  quote: 

In  this  connection,  as  further  illustrating  the  barbarous  treatment  of  our 
soldiers  and  the  cruelty  of  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  as  well  as  the  systematic 
violation  of  the  laws  of  war  at  Andersonvillle,  it  seems  proper  to  notice  the 
method  adopted  for  recapturing  prisoners. 

The  court  will  remember  that  the  counsel  for  the  prisoner  laid  great  stress  on 
the  fact  that  a  law  existed  in  the  state  of  Georgia  authorizing  the  use  of  dogs 
for  the  capture  of  fugitive  slaves,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  prove  by  Judge 
Hall,  the  witness  who  testified  to  this  fact,  that  a  justice  of  the  supreme  court 
of  that  state  had  made  a  decision  sustaining  the  law.  The  court  very  properly 
excluded  the  evidence,  but  I  will  give  the  prisoner  the  benefit  of  the  decision.  It 
was  made  by  Justice  Lumpkin,  and  is  another  evidence  of  the  extent  to  which 
a  naturally  strong  mind  may  be  warped  and  turned  from  a  strict  view  of 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TRIAL.  421 

justice  when  compelled  to  square  it  with  a  system  of  slavery.  The  case  referred 
to  is  Moran  vs.  Davis,  (18  Ga.).  The  facts  were  substantially  these:  A  negro 
ran  away,  was  pursued  by  dogs,  and  in  trying  to  escape  from  them  plunged 
into  a  creek  and  was  drowned.  The  slave  had  been  hired  to  the  man  who  pursued 
him,  and  the  owner  brought  suit  for  the  value  of  the  negro.  The  court  below 
held  "that  the  hirer  or  overseer  had  no  right  to  chase  the  slaves  with  such 
dogs  as  may  lacerate  or  materially  injure  the  slave;  should  he  do  so  he  will 
be  responsible  to  the  owner  for  all  damage  that  may  ensue  to  the  slave."  Ex 
ceptions  were  taken  to  the  rulings  of  the  court,  and  on  appeal  Justice  Lumpkin 
reversed  the  decision,  remarking,  "The  South  has  already  lost  60,000  slaves, 
worth  between  twenty-five  and  thirty  millions  of  dollars.  Instead,  therefore,  of 
relaxing  the  means  allowed  by  law  for  the  security  and  enjoyment  of  this  species 
of  property,  the  facilities  afforded  for  its  escape,  and  the  temptation  and  en 
couragement  held  out  to  induce  it,  constrain  us  willingly  or  otherwise  to  redouble 
our  vigilance  and  to  tighten  the  cords  that  bind  the  negro  to  his  condition  of 
servitude,  a  condition,"  he  adds  with  a  flourish  of  rhetoric  and  a  shameful  dis 
tortion  of  Scripture,  "which  is  to  last,  if  the  apocalypse  be  inspired,  to  the  end  of 
time." 

Unfortunately  for  the  argument  of  counsel,  prisoners  of  war  are  not  property, 
neither  are  they  slaves,  and  with  all  his  adroitness  he  can  hardly  torture  this  case 
to  his  purpose,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  decision  was  given  in  support 
of  a  relic  of  the  dark  ages  now  happily  passed  away. 

When  two  nations  are  at  war,  neither  has  a  right  to  prescribe  a  code  of  laws 
for  the  other;  a  moment's  reflection  will  show  the  injustice  of  such  a  thing;  but 
both  are  governed  by  a  higher  law  than  that  prescribed  by  either — that  is,  the 
law  governing  civilized  nations;  and  it  seems  to  me  that  no  refinement  of  reason 
ing  is  necessary  to  show  that  Judge  Lumpkin's  decision,  given  in  the  interest 
of  barbarism,  is  plainly  in  violation  of  the  rules  of  enlightened  civilization.  Dogs 
were  kept  at  Andersonville  from  the  organization  to  the  close  of  the  prison,  and 
of  this  the  rebel  government  had  notice  from  several  sources.  Dr.  Eldridge 
reported  it,  as  we  learn  from  exhibit  15A.  The  prisoner  also  reported  it,  as  we 
learn  from  exhibit  13.  Benjamin  Harris  and  a  man  named  W.  W.  Turner  were 
employed  and  paid  for  this  despicable  business.  The  first  named,  a  citizen,  was  a 
professional  negro  catcher  who  kept  a  pack  of  hounds  for  that  purpose;  the  other 
was  a  detailed  soldier,  detailed  by  order  of  General  Winder,  and  paid  as  an  extra 
duty  man.  (See  testimony  of  Colonel  Fannin,  Captain  Wright,  and  Ambrose 
Spencer.)  These  hounds  were  fed  with  provisions  taken  from  the  cook-house  and 
furnished  the  prisoners  of  war,  taken,  too,  from  the  scanty  supply  issued  by  the 
commissary  for  those  prisoners.  (See  testimony  of  Jasper  Culver.)  They  were 
mustered  into  the  military  service  of  the  rebel  government  the  same  as  cavalry 
horses.  (See  testimony  of  Colonel  Gibbs,  commandant  of  the  post  at  Anderson 
ville.  (  They  were  of  two  kinds,  "tracking  hounds"  and  "catch  dogs,"  and  if  any 
thing  were  wanting  to  show  the  deliberate  purpose  to  injure  prisoners  by  resorting 
to  this  means  of  capture  it  will  be  found  in  the  presence  of  these  packs  of 
hounds  of  "catch  dogs,"  which  are  described  by  many  as  fierce  and  bloodthirsty. 
If  there  had  been  no  desire  to  injure,  why  were  they  used  at  all?  They  have  none 
of  those  qualities  peculiar  to  the  tracking ;  they  run  only  by  sight,  and,  as  has  been 


422  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

testified  to,  always  remained  with  the  pursuer  until  approaching  a  prisoner.  The 
tracking  hounds  would  have  been  sufficient  to  discover  the  prisoners,  and  as 
they  are  usually  harmless,  would  have  served  the  purpose  of  the  pursuer  and  at 
the  same  time  inflicted  no  injury  upon  the  pursued.  The  evidence,  however, 
convinces  one  that  this  was  only  another  means  of  putting  prisoners  of  war  out 
of  the  way.  The  prisoner  at  the  bar  frequently  accompanied  Harris  and  Turner 
in  their  chases  after  prisoners,  and,  as  we  shall  see  hereafter,  gloated  over  the 
pain  inflicted  by  those  bloodthirsty  beasts.  Cannot  we  safely  stop  here  and 
ask  that  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  be  recorded  as  one  of  the  conspirators?  I  know 
that  it  is  urged  that  during  all  this  time  he  was  acting  under  General  Winder's 
orders,  and  for  the  purpose  of  argument  I  will  concede  that  he  was  so  acting. 
A  superior  officer  cannot  order  a  subordinate  to  do  an  illegal  act,  and  if  a  sub 
ordinate  obey  such  an  order  and  disastrous  consequences  result,  both  the  superior 
and  the  subordinate  must  answer  for  it.  General  Winder  could  no  more  com 
mand  the  prisoner  to  violate  the  laws  of  war  than  could  the  prisoner  do  so 
without  orders.  The  conclusion  is  plain,  that  where  such  orders  exist  both  are 
guilty,  and  a  fortiori  where  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  acted  upon  his  own  motion 
he  was  guilty.  You  cannot  conclude  that  this  prisoner  was  not  one  of  the 
conspirators  because  he  is  not  shown  to  have  been  present  and  to  have  acted 
in  concert  with  all  the  conspirators.  If  he  was  one  of  the  conspiracy  to  do  an 
illegal  thing,  it  matters  not  whether  he  knew  all  his  co-conspirators  or  partici 
pated  in  all  that  they  did.  It  is  not  necessary  to  prove  any  direct  concert  or 
even  meeting  of  the  conspirators.  A  concert  may  be  proved  by  evidence  of  a 
concurrence  of  the  acts  of  the  prisoner  with  those  of  others,  connected  together 
by  a  correspondence  in  point  of  time  and  in  their  manifest  adaptation  to  effect 
the  same  object.  (Starkie's  Evidence,  pp.  323-324.)  These  rules  of  law  place 
beyond  doubt  the  guilt  of  the  prisoner,  for  in  every  respect  there  is  plainly  dis 
coverable  "a  correspondence  of  time  and  a  manifest  adaptation  to  effect  the  same 
object,"  in  all  that  he  did;  and  these  principles  apply  not  only  to  the  prisoner, 
but  to  all  others  on  duty  at  Andersonville,  whose  acts  concurred  with  those  of 
others  of  the  conspiracy  and  were  adapted  to  effect  the  same  object. 

The  prisoner  at  the  bar  appeals  to  you  through  his  letter  of  May  7th,  directed 
to  General  Wilson,  and  asks,  "Shall  I  now  bear  the  odium  (and  men  who  were 
prisoners  here  have  seemed  disposed  to  wreak  their  vengeance  upon  me  for  what 
they  have  suffered)  who  was  only  the  medium,  or  I  may  better  say  the  tool,  in 
the  hands  of  my  superiors."  Strongly  as  it  may  strike  you  that  strict  justice 
would  require  the  punishment  of  the  arch-conspirator  himself;  strongly  as  this 
wreck  of  a  man,  with  body  tortured  by  disease  and  over  whom  already  gather 
the  shadows  of  death,  may  appeal  to  your  sympathies,  you  cannot  stop  the  course 
of  justice  or  refuse  to  brand  his  guilt  as  the  law  and  evidence  direct.  While  I 
would  not  dignify  the  chief  conspirators  in  this  crime  without  a  name  by  associat 
ing  with  them  the  prisoner  at  the  bar,  yet  he  and  they,  so  closely  connected  as 
they  are,  must  share  the  same  fate  before  the  bar  of  a  righteously  indignant 
people.  Nothing  can  ever  separate  them,  and  nothing  should  prevent  their  names 
going  down  to  history  in  common  infamy. 

I  have  said  that  Phillip  II  had  his  Alva,  that  Jefferson  Davis  had  his  Winder. 
I  might  add  that  the  Duke  of  Alva  had  his  de  Vargas,  and  Winder  his  Wirz. 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TRIAL.  423 

As  the  Duke  of  Alva  rises  out  of  the  mists  of  history  the  agent  of  a  powerful 
prince,  so  Winder  stands  out  with  fearful  distinctness  no  less  perfect  for  his 
willing  obedience  to  the  government  he  served  than  for  his  skill  to  devise  and 
ability  to  select  agents  as  capable  to  execute  the  refinements  of  cruelty.  Nor 
does  the  parallel  cease  here;  has  not  history  repeated  itself  in  making  Wirz  a 
man  cast  in  the  same  mould  as  the  infamous  de  Vargas,  a  hand  to  execute  with 
horrible  enthusiasm  what  his  superior  had  the  genius  to  suggest? 

Motley  tells  us,  in  his  "Kise  of  the  Dutch  Republic,"  of  these  men  Alva  and 
De  Vargas,  whose  spirits,  after  the  Pythagorean  theory,  seemed  to  have  centuries 
afterwards  infused  themselves  into  the  bodies  of  this  prisoner  and  his  immediate 
superior,  Winder.  He  says  of  the  subordinates  of  Alva:  "Del  Rio  was  a  man 
without  character  or  talent,  a  mere  tool  in  the  hands  of  his  superior;  but  Juan 
de  Vargas  was  a  terrible  reality — no  better  man  could  have  been  found  in  Europe 
for  the  post  to  which  he  was  thus  elevated.  To  shed  human  blood  was  in  his 
opinion  the  only  important  business,  and  the  only  exhilarating  pastime  of  life." 

"He  executed  the  bloody  work  with  an  industry  which  was  almost  superhuman 
and  with  a  merriment  which  would  have  shamed  a  demon;  his  execrable  jests 
ringing  through  the  blood  and  smoke  and  death  cries  of  those  days  of  perpetual 
sacrifice.  There  could  be  no  collision  where  the  subaltern  was  only  anxious  to 
surpass  an  incomparable  superior." 

After  pointing  out  the  evidence  as  to  the  quantity  served  as  a  ration, 
the  judge  advocate  concluded  his  argument  upon  the  charge  of  con 
spiracy  as  follows: 

Thus  we  have  shown  from  evidence  of  the  highest  character,  that  the  defense 
based  upon  want  of  supplies  within  the  reach  of  the  rebel  authorities,  and  which 
is  popularly  believed  to  have  been  the  real  cause  of  the  sufferings  of  Anderson- 
ville,  is  entirely  overthrown,  and  without  foundation  in  fact;  and  the  same  may 
be  said  of  every  question  entering  into  the  defense  incident  to  the  matter  of 
supplies.  With  whatever  truth  the  straitened  circumstances  of  the  South  may 
be  urged  to  exculpate  those  in  charge  of  other  prisons,  certainly,  so  far  as 
Andersonville  is  concerned,  no  one  will  hereafter  with  seriousness  dare  to 
urge  it. 

Having  shown  with  certainty  that  supplies  were  abundant  and  available,  I 
cannot  omit  to  mention  what  amount  was  actually  issued  as  the  only  means  of 
sustenance  to  the  prisoners.  I  quote  Dr.  Bates,  whose  acknowledged  credibility 
on  the  part  of  the  accused  in  his  statement  to  the  court  makes  it  unnecessary 
to  support  him  by  the  many  witnesses  who  testify  to  the  same  point;  but  the 
court  will  remember  that  his  estimate  is  several  ounces  more  than  the  prisoners 
themselves  testify  to  having  received.  He  says:  "I  wish  to  be  entirely  safe  and 
well  guarded  on  this  point.  There  might  have  been  less  than  twenty  ounces  to  the 
twenty-four  hours;  but  I  do  not  think  it  could  have  exceeded  that." 

The  ration,  it  will  also  be  remembered,  consisted  of  one  unvarying  diet  of  corn 
bread  and  salt  meat,  with  an  occasional  issue  of  peas,  and  with  no  vegetables 
whatever.  In  comparison  with  this  scanty  allowance  which  the  concurrent  testi 
mony  of  all  the  witnesses  shows  was  the  immediate  cause  of  the  great  mortality 
at  that  prison,  I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  some  interesting  and  instructire 


424  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

facts,  showing  the  amount  of  food  necessary  to  sustain  life.  I  quote  from  a 
work  on  the  economy  of  armies,  by  medical  inspector  Lieutenant-Colonel  A.  C. 
Hamlin,  United  States  Army: 

The  data  of  French's  shows  that  eighteen  ounces  of  properly  selected  food  will 
be  sufficient,  and  the  observations  of  Sir  John  Sinclair  are  to  the  same  effect,  yet 
Dr.  Christison  maintains  that  thirty-six  ounces  are  required  to  preserve  the 
athletic  condition  of  prisoners  confined  for  a  long  term.  To  preserve  the  athletic 
condition  with  these  small  quantities,  the  nutrient  substance  must  be  of  known 
value. 

In  the  public  establishments  of  England  the  following  quantities  are  given : 

British  soldier,  45  ounces;  seaman,  royal  navy,  44  ounces;  convict,  57  ounces; 
male  pauper,  29  ounces;  male  lunatic,  31  ounces. 

The  full  diets  of  the  hospitals  of  London  give,  Guy,  29  ounces,  with  one  pint  of 
beer;  Bartholomew,  31  ounces,  with  4  pints  of  beer  or  tea;  St.  Thomas,  25 
ounces,  with  3  pints  of  beer  or  tea;  St.  George,  27  ounces,  with  4  pints  of  beer 
or  tea;  Kings,  25  ounces. 

The  Eussian  soldier  has  bread  16  ounces,  meat  16  ounces;  Turkish  soldier  has 
bread  33  ounces,  meat  13  ounces;  French  soldier  has  bread  26  ounces,  meat  11 
ounces;  Hessian  soldier  has  bread  36  ounces,  meat  6  ounces;  English  soldier  has 
bread  20  ounces,  meat  16  ounces. 

The  United  States  soldier  receives  %  pound  of  bacon,  or  1^  pound  of  fresh 
or  salt  beef;  18  ounces  of  bread  or  flour,  or  %  pound  of  hard  bread,  or  1*4  pound 
of  corn  meal;  with  rice,  beans,  vegetables,  coffee,  sugar,  tea,  etc.,  in  proportion. 

When  we  remember  that  there  seems  to  have  been  no  difference  made  in  the 
rations  issued  to  the  sick  in  the  hospital  and  prisoners  confined  in  the  stockade; 
that,  as  we  have  seen  by  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Jones,  the  mortality  was  propor 
tionately  the  same  in  both  places,  and  all  the  surroundings  so  prolific  of  disease, 
added  to  the  fact  that  for  months  the  prisoners  had  barely  room  to  stand  upon, 
we  are  prepared  to  comprehend  the  force  of  the  illustrations  above  given  and 
those  which  I  shall  now  give.  The  number  of  patients  treated  in  the  hospital 
at  Andersonville  is  shown  by  the  hospital  register  to  have  been  something  less 
than  18,000,  the  number  of  deaths  a  little  short  of  13,000,  and  to  this  number 
must  be  added  2,000  more,  who,  as  we  have  shown  with  reasonable  certainty, 
died  before  reaching  their  homes,  making  in  all  15,000,  and  this  falls  far  short 
of  the  maximum  number,  giving,  as  we  see,  the  frightful  ratio  of  mortality  of 
over  83  per  cent. 

Quoting  from  the  same  learned  author  we  find  that  "the  average  mortality  of 
the  London  hospitals  is  nine  per  cent;  in  the  French  hospitals  in  the  Crimea, 
for  a  period  of  twenty-two  months,  mortality  was  fourteen  per  cent.  The  city 
of  Milan  received  during  the  campaign  in  Italy  34,000  sick  and  wounded,  of 
whom  1,400,  or  four  per  cent,  died.  The  city  of  Nashville,  Tennessee,  received 
during  the  year  1864,  65,157  sick  and  wounded,  of  whom  2,635,  or  four  per  cent, 
died.  During  the  year  1863  Washington  received  67,884,  and  of  these  but  2,671, 
or  less  than  four  per  cent,  died;  and  in  1864  her  hospitals  received  96,705  sick 
and  wounded  (49,455  sick,  47,250  wounded),  of  whom  6,283,  or  six  and  four-tenths 
per  cent,  died.  The  mortality  of  the  rebel  prisoners  at  Fort  Delaware  for  eleven 
months  was  two  per  cent;  at  Johnson's  Island  during  twenty-one  months  134 
deaths  out  of  6,000  prisoners." 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TKIAL.  425 

This  is  the  record  of  history,  against  the  charnel-house  of  Andersonville.  Let 
the  mouths  of  those  who  would  defend  these  atrocities  by  recrimination,  charging 
the  United  States  government  with  like  cruelty,  forever  hereafter  be  closed. 

Fort  Delaware  and  Johnson's  Island,  with  their  two  per  cent  of  dead.  Ander 
sonville  with  its  eighty-three  per  cent!  Look  upon  that  picture  and  then  upon 
this,  and  tell  me  there  was  no  design  to  slay!  Let  no  mind,  be  it  warped  ever 
so  much  by  treason  and  treasonable  sympathies,  doubt  this  record,  for  "If  damned 
custom  have  not  brazed  it  so  that  it  be  proof  and  bulwark  against  sense,"  it  must 
believe;  it  cannot  deny  these  things. 

May  it  please  the  court,  I  have  done  with  the  argument  under  charge  first. 
I  leave  it  with  you  to  answer  by  your  verdict  whether  this  charge  of  conspiracy, 
solemnly  and  seriously  preferred,  can  be  frittered  away  and  disposed  of  without 
a  single  explanatory  line  in  defense.  I  place  before  you,  gentlemen,  on  the 
one  hand  the  protestations  of  this  accused,  who  speaks  for  himself  and  his  co- 
conspirators;  on  the  other  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Bates,  where  he  declared,  as  you 
well  remember,  with  faltering  tone  and  feelings  overpowered,  "I  feel  myself  safe 
in  saying  that  seventy-five  per  cent  of  those  who  died  might  have  been  saved  had 
those  unfortunate  men  been  properly  cared  for." 

I  leave  it  with  you  to  say  whether  the  prisoner  at  the  bar  can  acquit  himself 
and  his  associates  in  crime  by  declaring  the  charge  here  laid  to  be,  as  he  has 
told  you,  "a  myth,"  "a  phantasy  of  the  brain,"  "a  wild  chimera,  as  unsubstantial 
as  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision." 

CONDITIONS  SURROUNDING  WITNESSES. 

In  his  argument  upon  the  charge  of  murder  the  judge  advocate 
called  attention  to  the  conditions  surrounding  the  witnesses  at  the 
time  of  which  they  testified.  He  said: 

I  have  thus  hastily  passed  over  the  evidence  touching  this  class  of  murders. 
I  shall  presently  endeavor  to  individualize  the  instances  mentioned  and  to  recon 
cile  and  unite  the  separated,  and  in  some  instances  apparently  complicated,  cir 
cumstances.  But,  before  doing  so,  let  me  suggest  that  on  the  review  of  this 
evidence,  while  the  testimony  must  be  and  ought  to  be  subjected  to  the  closest 
criticism  and  scrutiny,  and  while  the  court  should  be  convinced,  beyond  a  reasonable 
doubt,  of  the  guilt  of  this  accused,  still  I  submit  it  as  worthy  of  grave  con 
sideration  that  there  are  many  circumstances  peculiar  to  prison  life,  as  it  was 
at  Andersonville,  which  make  the  ordinary  test  applied  in  tribunals  of  law  for 
the  verification  of  testimony  altogether  inappropriate  in  this  case.  The  court 
will  not  forget  that  there  existed  at  Andersonville  a  condition  of  affairs  for 
which  it  would  would  be  impossible  to  find  a  precedent.  The  prisoners  were  de 
prived,  to  a  great  measure,  of  facilities  for  ordinary  intelligence  or  for  communi 
cation  with  each  other  and  the  outer  world.  They  were  subjected  to  the  closest 
and  most  cruel  confinement  and  discipline.  Most  of  them  were  constantly  racked 
with  the  pangs  of  hunger  or  disease,  or  engrossed  from  hour  to  hour  in  a  struggle 
with  death  in  which  the  odds  were  fearfully  against  them.  Their  companions 
were  constantly  dying  around  them,  either  from  emaciation,  disease,  or  acts  of 
violence,  so  that,  as  the  prisoners  themselves  have  declared  in  the  presence  of 


426  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

the  court,  they  became  so  habituated  to  these  horrible  surroundings,  that  the 
death  of  a  comrade,  under  what  would  ordinarily  seem  the  most  frightful  circum 
stances,  made  in  many  cases  but  a  slight  impression  upon  their  minds;  and  cer 
tainly  they  would  not  charge  their  memory  with  dates  or  circumstances,  even 
should  they  be  able  to  fix  the  time,  and  it  will  be  remembered  that  many  of  them 
state  that  they  lost  all  knowledge  of  the  days  of  the  week  and  the  month.  Be 
sides,  they  never  expected  to  emerge  from  that  scene  alive,  and  never  hoped  that 
a  day  would  come  when  their  persecutor  should  be  arraigned  before  a  tribunal 
of  justice,  and  they  themselves  be  summoned  as  witnesses  to  his  iniquitous  acts. 
It  is  not  to  be  expected  that,  under  these  circumstances,  witnesses  should  evince 
such  precision  as  to  dates  and  minute  particulars  as  might  be  expected  in  an 
ordinary  trial  for  the  investigation  of  offenses  disturbing  but  rarely  the  tran 
quillity  of  civilized  society.  A  court  of  justice  never  requires  higher  evidence 
than  the  best  of  which  the  case  will  admit;  for,  as  has  been  well  remarked  by 
a  distinguished  legal  writer,  "The  rules  of  evidence  are  adopted  for  practical 
purposes  in  the  administration  of  justice,  and  must  be  so  applied  as  to  promote 
the  end  for  which  they  were  designed."  (1  Greenleaf's  Evidence,  sec.  83.) 

But  I  have  no  apology  to  offer,  no  defense  to  make  for  the  testimony  upon 
which  the  prosecution  relies  for  the  conviction  of  this  accused  under  the  charge 
now  being  examined. 

In  every  case  where  you  are  asked  to  hold  the  prisoner  responsible  for  the 
death  of  any  one  of  those  in  his  custody,  you  will  find  the  evidence  direct,  posi 
tive,  and  clear;  you  are  not  asked  to  find  this  prisoner  guilty  upon  vague,  uncer 
tain,  doubtful  testimony,  but  you  are  asked  to  apply  the  rules  of  evidence  prop 
erly  applicable  to  cases  occurring  under  the  peculiar  circumstances  to  which  we 
have  alluded,  always  remembering  that  your  duty  is  to  arrive  at  the  truth  in  the 
most  direct  manner  possible. 

After  having  given  to  the  court  his  analysis  of  the  evidence  bearing 
upon  the  charge  of  murder,  the  judge  advocate  concluded  his  address 
as  follows: 

I  have  thus,  without  regard  to  the  evidence  under  charge  first,  presented  the 
evidence  under  charge  second,  as  spread  upon  the  record,  showing  that  this 
accused,  while  acting  as  commandant  of  the  prison  at  Andersonville,  deliberately, 
wantonly,  and  maliciously  destroyed  the  lives  of  eighteen  prisoners  of  war  in  his 
custody.  I  confess  myself  too  much  overcome  with  the  melancholy  details  of  this 
trial  and  the  frightful  disclosures  to  dwell  longer  on  so  sad  a  theme.  If  this 
accused  still  answer  that,  admitting  the  facts  charged,  he  did  these  things  in  the 
exercise  of  authority  lawfully  conferred  upon  him,  and  that  what  he  did  was 
necessary  to  the  discipline  and  safety  of  the  prisoners,  I  answer  him  in  the  lan 
guage  of  Lord  Mansfield,  given  in  an  important  case: 

In  trying  the  legality  of  acts  done  by  military  officers  in  the  exercise  of  their 
duty,  particularly  beyond  the  seas,  where  cases  may  occur  without  the  possibility 
of  application  for  proper  advice,  great  latitude  ought  to  be  allowed,  and  they 
ought  not  to  suffer  for  a  slip  of  form,  if  their  intention  appears,  by  the  evidence, 
to  have  been  upright.  It  is  the  same  as  when  complaints  are  brought  against 
inferior  civil  magistrates,  such  as  justices  of  the  peace,  for  acts  done  by  them 
in  the  exercise  of  their  civil  duty.  There  the  principal  inquiry  to  be  made  by  a 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TRIAL.  427 

court  of  justice  is,  how  the  heart  stood,  and  if  there  appear  to  be  nothing  wrong 
there,  great  latitude  will  be  allowed  for  misapprehension  or  mistake.  But,  on  the 
other  hand,  if  the  heart  is  wrong,  if  cruelty,  malice  and  oppression  appear  to 
have  occasioned  or  aggravated  the  imprisonment,  or  other  injury  complained  of, 
they  shall  not  cover  themselves  with  the  thin  veil  of  legal  forms,  or  escape,  urdcr 
the  cover  of  a  justification  the  most  technically  regular,  from  that  punishment 
which  it  is  your  province  and  your  duty  to  inflict  on  so  scandalous  an  abuse  of 
public  trust.  (Wall  vs.  MacNamara.) 

May  it  please  the  court,  I  have  hastily  analyzed  and  presented  the  evidence 
under  charge  second.  If  we  had  not  travelled  through  the  history  of  those 
long  weary  months  of  suffering,  torture,  starvation,  and  death,  and  become 
familiar  with  each  day's  roll  of  those  who  passed  away,  the  mind  could  not 
contemplate  this  last  though  briefer  roster  of  the  dead  without  feelings  of  utmost 
horror.  Mortal  man  has  never  been  called  to  answer  before  a  legal  tribunal 
to  a  catalogue  of  crime  like  this.  One  shudders  at  the  fact,  and  almost  doubts 
the  age  we  live  in.  I  would  not  harrow  up  your  minds  by  dwelling  further  upon 
this  woeful  record.  The  obligation  you  have  taken  constitutes  you  the  sole  judges 
of  both  law  and  fact.  I  pray  you  administer  the  one,  and  decide  the  other, 
meting  out  to  those  involved  in  this  crime  of  the  universe  all  justice,  without  fear, 
favor,  or  partiality,  and  without  regard  to  position,  high  or  low,  of  those  proved 
guilty. 

The  address  of  the  judge  advocate  was  made  under  strong  con 
viction  not  only  of  the  prisoner's  guilt,  but  that  a  crime  of  monu 
mental  proportions  had  been  committed  in  which  many  others  besides 
the  prisoner  were  involved.  He  spoke  at  a  time  when  the  atmosphere 
was  surcharged  with  the  enormity  of  the  terrible  consequences  which 
had  accompanied  the  Rebellion,  and  which  were  weighing  heavily 
upon  the  hearts  of  the  loyal  people  of  the  country. 

It  was  too  soon  after  the  arms  of  rebellion  had  been  laid  down 
for  the  North  to  forgive  or  forget.  Our  President  had  been  cruelly 
assassinated ;  many  of  the  leaders  of  the  Rebellion  were  in  confinement 
under  charges  of  high  treason ;  the  public  mind  was  feverish  and  in  a 
condition  of  high  tension.  The  crimes  with  which  Wirz  and  his 
co-conspirators  stood  charged,  were  of  such  a  character  as  to  arouse 
in  the  minds  of  those  who  had  suffered  by  the  Rebellion,  a  spirit  of 
deep  resentment,  and  to  demand  speedy  punishment  where  guilt  was 
shown. 

Under  such  circumstances  and  in  such  atmosphere,  a  prosecuting 
officer  may  well  be  excused  for  some  extravagance  of  speech,  some 
comments  and  criticisms  which,  in  after  years,  may  seem  unnecessarily, 
even  unwarrantedly,  harsh  and  severe. 

Recalling  those  days,  now  forty-five  years  past,  remembering  the 
vivid  impressions  the  evidence  of  the  frightful  sufferings  and  needless 


428  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

mortality  at  Andersonville  made  upon  my  mind,  I  cannot  bring  the 
judgment  of  my  maturer  years  to  doubt  the  righteousness  of  the 
verdict,  nor  can  I  find  it  in  my  heart  to  offer  apology  for  the  ardor 
and  zeal  with  which  I  prosecuted  the  prisoner. 

The  court  made  the  following  findings  and  pronounced  the  follow 
ing  sentence: 

The  court,  being  cleared  for  deliberation,  and  having  maturely  considered  the 
evidence  adduced,  find  the  accused,  Henry  Wirz,  as  follows  ;i 

Of  the  specification  to  charge  I,  "guilty,"  after  amending  said  specification  to 
read  as  follows: 

In  this,  that  he,  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  did  combine,  confederate,  and  conspire 
with  them,  the  said  Jefferson  Davis,  James  A.  Seddon,  Howell  Cobb,  John  H. 
Winder,  Richard  B.  Winder,  Isaiah  H.  White,  W.  S.  Winder,  W.  Shelby  Reed, 

R.  R.  Stevenson,  S.  P.  Moore,  Kerr,  late  hospital  steward  at  Andersonville, 

James  Duncan,  Wesley  W.  Turner,  Benjamin  Harris,  and  others  whose  names 
are  unknown,  citizens  of  the  United  States  aforesaid,  and  who  were  then  engaged 
in  armed  rebellion  against  the  United  States,  maliciously,  traitorously,  and  in 
violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  to  impair  and  injure  the  health  and  to  destroy  the 
lives,  by  subjecting  to  torture  and  great  suffering,  by  confining  in  unhealthy  and 
unwholesome  quarters,  by  exposing  to  the  inclemency  of  winter  and  to  the  dews 
and  burning  suns  of  summer,  by  compelling  the  use  of  impure  water,  and  by 
furnishing  insufficient  and  unwholesome  food,  of  large  numbers  of  Federal 
prisoners,  to  wit,  the  number  of  about  forty-five  thousand  soldiers  in  the  military 
service  of  the  United  States  of  America,  held  as  prisoners  of  war  at  Andersonville, 
in  the  state  of  Georgia,  within  the  lines  of  the  so-called  Confederate  States, 

[The  remaining  portion  of  the  specification  was  found  as  charged.] 

Of  charge  I,  "guilty,"  after  amending  said  charge  to  read  as  follows:2 

Maliciously,  willfully  and  traitorously,  and  in  aid  of  the  then  existing  armed 
rebellion  against  the  United  States  of  America,  on  or  about  the  27th  day  of 
March,  A.  D.  1864,  and  on  divers  other  days  between  that  day  and  the  tenth 
day  of  April,  1865,  combining,  confederating  and  conspiring  together  with  Jef 
ferson  Davis,  James  A.  Seddon,  Howell  Cobb,  John  H.  Winder,  Richard  B. 
Winder,  Isaiah  H.  White,  W.  S.  Winder,  W.  Shelby  Reed,  R.  R.  Stevenson,  S.  P. 

Moore,  Kerr,  late  hospital  steward  at  Andersonville,  James  Duncan,  Wesley 

W.  Turner,  Benjamin  Harris  and  others  unknown,  to  injure  the  health  and  destroy 
the  lives  of  soldiers  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States,  then  held  and 
being  prisoners  of  war  within  the  lines  of  the  so-called  Confederate  States  and  in 
the  military  prisons  thereof,  to  the  end  that  the  armies  of  the  United  States 
might  be  weakened  and  impaired;  in  violation  of  the  laws  and  customs  of  war. 

Of  specification  first  to  the  charge  II,  "guilty,"  adding  the  words  "or  about" 
immediately  before  the  phrase  "the  ninth  day  of  July." 

Of  specification  second  to  charge  II,  "guilty." 

Of  specification  third  to  charge  II,  "guilty,"  after  striking  out  "June,"  and 
inserting  instead  "September." 

1  Record,  p.  805. 
a  Record,  p.  807. 


THE  COURT  AND  THE  TEIAL.  429 

Of  specification  four  to  charge  II,  "not  guilty." 

Of  specification  five  to  charge  II,  "guilty,"  after  striking  out  the  phrase  "on 
the  thirtieth  day,"  and  inserting  instead  the  phrase,  "on  or  about  the  twenty-fifth 
day." 

Of  specification  six  to  charge  II,  "guilty,"  after  striking  out  the  word  "first," 
and  inserting  "fifteenth,"  and  also  striking  out  the  phrase  "on  the  sixth  day,"  and 
inserting  instead  the  phrase  "on  or  about  the  sixteenth  day." 

Of  specification  seven  to  charge  II,  "guilty,"  after  striking  out  the  word 
"twentieth,"  and  inserting  instead  the  word  "first,"  and  also  after  inserting  "or 
about"  immediately  before  the  phrase  "the  twenty-fifth  day." 

Of  specification  eight  to  charge  II,  "guilty." 

Of  specification  nine  to  charge  II,  "guilty." 

Of  specification  ten  to  charge  II,  not  guilty." 

Of  specification  eleven  to  charge  II,  "guilty,"  after  striking  out  the  word 
"first,"  and  inserting  instead  the  word  "sixth";  after  striking  out  also  the  phrase 
"incite  and  urge"  and  the  phrase  "encouragement  and  instigation,"  and  by  adding 
the  words  "or  about"  after  the  word  "on,"  where  it  last  occurs  in  the  specifica 
tion;  and  also  after  striking  out  the  phrase  "animals  called  bloodhounds,"  and 
inserting  the  word  "dogs";  and  also  striking  out  the  word  "bloodhounds"  where 
it  afterwards  occurs,  and  inserting  the  word  "dogs";  and  also  striking  out  the 
words  "given  by  him." 

Of  specification  twelve  to  charge  II,  "guilty." 

Of  specification  thirteen  to  charge  II,  "not  guilty." 

Of  the  second  charge,  "guilty." 

And  the  court  do  therefore  sentence  him,  the  said  Henry  Wirz,  to  be  hanged 
by  the  neck  till  he  be  dead,  at  such  time  and  place  as  the  President  of  the  United 
States  may  direct,  two-thirds  of  the  members  of  the  court  concurring  herein. 

LEW  WALLACE, 

N.  P.  CHIPMAN,  Major-General  and  President  of  Com. 

Col.  and  Add.  A.  D.  C.,  Judge  Advocate. 

And  the  court  also  find  the  prisoner,  Henry  Wirz,  guilty  of  having  caused  the 
death,  in  manner  as  alleged  in  specification  eleven  to  charge  II,  by  means  of 
dogs,  of  three  prisoners  of  war  in  his  custody  and  soldiers  of  the  United  States,. 
one  occurring  on  or  about  the  15th  day  of  May,  1864;  another  occurring  on  or 
about  the  llth  day  of  July,  1864;  another  occurring  on  or  about  the  1st  day  of 
September,  1864,  but  which  finding  as  here  expressed  has  not  and  did  not  enter 
into  the  sentence  of  the  court  as  before  given. 

LEW  WALLACE, 

N.  P.  CHIPMAN,  Major-General  and  President  of  Com. 

Col.  and  Add.  A.  D.  C.,  Judge  Advocate. 

OPINION  OF  THE  JUDGE  ADVOCATE- GENERAL. 

Military  records  are  first  examined  by  the  judge  advocate-general 
and  his  opinion  and  recommendation  taken.  All  sentences  involving 
death  penalty  go  to  the  president  for  final  action.  The  Wirz  record 


430  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

had  careful  scrutiny,  and  went  to  the  president  with  an  elaborate 
written  opinion  of  the  judge  advocate-general.  Some  extracts  only 
will  be  here  given  i1 

It  is  not  necessary  for  the  purposes  of  this  review  to  go  into  an  elaborate  dis 
cussion  of  the  question  involved  in  the  findings  on  the  first  charge.  From  the 
document  of  the  proceedings,  containing  more  than  5,000  pages,  presenting  a  mass 
of  evidence  bearing  upon  these  questions,  no  brief  summary  can  be  made  which 
would  do  justice  to  the  subject,.  The  argument  of  the  judge  advocate  sets  forth 
an  able  and  exhaustive  examination  of  the  material  legal  points  raised  and  proof 
established  by  the  trial,  and  forms  a  part  of  the  record.  It  may  be  relied  on  as 
giving  a  full  and  just  exposition  of  the  matters  which  entered  into  the  deliber 
ations  of  the  court,  and,  as  particularly  applicable  to  this  branch  of  the  case, 
reference  is  respectfully  invited  to  pages  4838  to  5148.  The  opinion  is  expressed 
that  the  conspiracy,  as  described  in  the  findings  above  recited,  was  clearly  made 
out,  and  that  the  conclusions  arrived  at  by  the  court  could  not,  in  the  light  of  the 
evidence  this  record  contains,  have  been  avoided. 

Language  fails  in  an  attempt  to  denounce,  even  in  faint  terms,  the  diabolical 
combination  for  the  destruction  and  death,  by  cruel  and  fiendishly  ingenious  pro 
cesses,  of  helpless  prisoners  of  war  who  might  fall  into  their  hands,  which  this 
record  shows  was  plotted  and  deliberately  entered  upon,  and,  as  far  as  time 
permitted,  accomplished  by  the  rebel  authorities  and  their  brutal  underlings  at 
Andersonville  prison.  Criminal  history  presents  no  parallel  to  this  monstrous 
conspiracy,  and  from  the  whole  catalogue  of  infamous  devices  within  reach  of 
human  hands,  a  system  for  the  murder  of  men  more  revolting  in  its  details  could 
not  have  been  planned.  Upon  the  heads  of  those  named  by  the  court  in  its 
findings  the  guilt  of  this  immeasurable  crime  is  fixed,  a  guilt  so  fearfully  black 
and  horrible,  that  the  civilized  world  must  be  appalled  by  the  spectacle. 

There  remains  yet  to  be  noticed  the  matter  involved  in  the  second  charge. 
The  homicides  alleged  to  have  been  committed  under  this  charge,  and  which  the 
court  found  were  committed,  are  of  four  classes:  First.  Those  cases  of  death 
which  resulted  from  the  biting  of  dogs.  (Specification  2.)  Second.  Cases  of 
death  which  resulted  from  confinement  in  the  stocks  and  chain-gang.  (Specifica 
tions  5,  6,  7.)  Third.  Cases  of  prisoners  killed  by  guards,  pursuant  to  direct 
orders  of  Wirz,  given  at  the  time.  (Specifications  8,  9,  12.)  Fourth.  Cases  of 
prisoners  killed  by  Wirz's  own  hand.  (Specifications  1,  2,  3.) 

That  all  the  deaths  embraced  in  these  four  classes  resulted  from  the  causes 
and  in  the  manner  set  forth  in  the  specifications,  is  conceived  to  be  very  clearly 
established  by  the  evidence  adduced  by  the  prosecution,  and  it  is  not  deemed 
necessary,  in  the  absence  of  any  contradictory  testimony  directly  bearing  on  these 
instances,  to  recite  the  evidence  applicable  to  each,  except,  it  may  be,  briefly,  that 
relating  to  the  fourth  class  (Specifications  1,  2,  3)  and  some  acts  of  a  similar 
character. 

The  testimony  supporting  the  first  specification  is  that  of  Felix  De  la  Baume, 
a  Union  soldier,  who  states  that  on  or  about  the  8th  of  July,  1864,  he  was  one 
of  a  detachment  of  prisoners  taken  to  Wirz's  headquarters  to  be  enrolled,  before 

1  Record,   p.   808. 


THE  COUET  AND  THE  TEIAL.  431 

being  sent  into  the  prison;  that  one  of  his  comrades  was  attacked  with  epilepsy, 
and  some  of  his  companions,  by  permission  of  the  guard,  ran  to  the  creek  for 
water;  that  he,  the  witness,  heard  a  shot  fired,  and,  on  turning,  saw  Wirz  fire 
two  more,  wounding  two  prisoners,  one  of  whom  the  witness  never  saw  nor  heard 
of  afterwards;  and  the  other  of  whom  he  saw  carried  up  to  Wirz's  headquarters, 
in  a  dying  condition,  the  wound  being  in  the  breast. 

There  is  also  the  testimony  of  George  Conway,  who  states  that  on  or  about  the 
llth  of  July,  1864,  he  saw  Wirz  shoot  a  Union  prisoner  within  the  stockade  as  he 
was  stooping  to  pick  up  his  cup,  which  had  fallen  under  the  dead-line,  and  that 
the  man  died  almost  instantly. 

Which  of  these  two  cases  (either  being,  it  is  conceived,  sufficient  to  sustain 
the  allegation)  the  court  relied  on,  does  not,  of  course,  appear. 

In  support  of  the  second  specification,  Martin  E.  Hogan  testifies  that  some 
time  in  September,  when  the  prisoners  were  being  removed  from  Andersonville 
to  Millen,  he  saw  Wirz  take  a  prisoner,  who  was  worn  out  with  hunger  and 
disease,  by  the  coat-collar,  and,  because  he  could  not  walk  faster,  wrench  him 
back  and  stamp  upon  him  with  his  boots ;  that  the  man  was  borne  past  him 
(witness)  bleeding  from  his  mouth  and  nose,  and  died  in  a  short  time. 

The  third  specification  is  supported  by  the  testimony  of  George  W.  Gray,  who 
states,  that  about  the  middle  of  September,  1864,  he  and  a  comrade  named 
William  Stewart,  a  private  belonging  to  a  Minnesota  regiment,  went  out  of  the 
stockade,  in  charge  of  a  guard,  to  carry  a  dead  body,  and  that  after  laying  it  in 
the  dead-house  they  were  on  their  way  back  to  the  stockade,  when  Wirz  rode 
up  to  them  and  asked,  "by  what  authority  they  were  out  there";  that  Stewart 
replied,  they  were  out  there  by  proper  authority;  whereupon  Wirz  drew  his  re 
volver  and  shot  Stewart,  the  ball  taking  effect  in  his  breast  and  killing  him  in 
stantly;  and  that  the  guard  then  took  from  his  body  some  twenty  or  thirty  dol 
lars,  which  Wirz  received  and  rode  away. 

Further  evidence  in  regard  to  Wirz  killing  certain  prisoners  was  presented,  but 
the  dates  given  by  the  witnesses  show  the  murders  to  have  been  other  than  those 
alleged  in  the  specifications.  They  will  be  referred  to  as  illustrating  the  character 
of  the  prisoner,  and  establishing  a  frequency  and  repetition  of  like  crimes. 

James  H.  Davidson  testified  that  in  April,  as  he  remembered,  Wirz  came  into 
the  stockade  one  day,  and  a  lame  man  went  up  to  him  and  asked  him  a  question, 
whereupon  Wirz  "turned  around"  and  shot  him,  and  he  died. 

Thomas  C.  Alcoke  states  that  one  day  (the  witness  seems  to  have  no  knowledge 
or  recollection  of  dates)  Wirz  came  into  the  stockade  and  a  man  asked  of  him 
permission  to  go  out  and  get  some  fresh  air;  that  Wirz  asked  him  what  he  meant, 
and  that  after  a  few  more  words  had  passed  between  them,  Wirz  "wheeled  around," 
pulled  out  a  revolver,  and  shot  him  down,  the  ball  taking  effect  in  his  breast,  and 
death  occurring  about  three  hours  afterwards.  It  also  appears  by  this  witness 
that  when  he  remonstrated  Wirz  told  him  he  "had  better  look  out,  or  he  would  be 
put  in  the  same  place,"  and  that  soon  after  Wirz  came  in  with  a  guard  and  put 
him  in  irons. 

Hugh  K.  Snee  testified  that  some  time  in  September,  1864,  a  party  of  Union 
prisoners  were  to  be  exchanged  under  an  arrangement  between  General  Sherman 
and  the  rebel  Hood ;  that  they  were  taken  from  the  stockade  after  dark,  as  the  heat 


432  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

in  the  day  was  so  great  that  the  men  would  have  fainted;  that  none  but  able- 
bodied  men  were  selected,  it  being  stated  when  they  were  called  out  that  any  one 
who  could  not  walk  eighteen  miles  a  day  would  be  shot;  that  notwithstanding  this 
the  men  were  so  anxious  to  escape  imprisonment  that  some  too  weak  to  perform 
the  day's  travel  came  out.  The  witness  states  that  three,  who  belonged  to  some 
western  regiments,  were  able  to  go  but  a  short  distance  before  they  fainted  and 
fell  out  of  the  ranks,  and  were  pushed  one  side  by  the  guard;  that  thereupon  a 
man  ran  back,  and  speaking  in  a  voice  he  thought  at  the  time  to  be  that  of  Captain 
Wirz,  wanted  to  know  why  they  were  there;  that  they  replied,  they  wished  to  get 
out  of  prison;  whereupon  this  man  said,  "I'll  help  you  out,  God  damn  you." 
Witness  then  heard  six  pistol-shots,  followed  by  a  cry  as  if  some  one  was  hurt, 
"and  immediately  after,  a  rebel  lieutenant  came  past  remarking  that  it  was  a 
brutal  act;  that  one  of  them  was  dead,"  and,  when  asked  who  did  it,  replied,  "The 
captain." 

The  most  prominent  features  of  the  defense  under  this  second  charge  will  now 
be  considered: 

An  attempt  was  made  to  prove  that  during  the  whole  of  August  and  parts  of 
July  and  September  the  prisoner  was  sick  and  confined  to  his  bed,  and  could 
not  have  committed  the  crimes  charged  to  him  in  those  months.  In  his  state 
ment  to  the  court,  however,  he  made  no  reference  to  his  absence — doubtless  for 
the  reason  that  the  testimony  was  of  too  general  and  loose  a  character  to  set  up 
as  contradictory  to  the  explicit  statements  of  numerous  witnesses  as  to  the  dates 
when  the  crimes  recorded  in  the  finding  were  committed,  corroborated  as  those 
statements  were,  by  official  papers,  bearing  his  signature,  showing  that  at  differ 
ent  times  during  those  months  he  was  in  the  performance  of  his  ordinary  functions 
as  commandant  of  the  prison. 

It  was  claimed  that  deaths  resulting  from  the  use  of  dogs,  in  the  capture  of 
escaped  prisoners,  were  not  crimes  fastened  upon  Wirz,  he  not  being  present  at 
the  pursuit  and  therefore  not  responsible.  But  it  appears  to  have  been  the  fact 
that  this  use  of  dogs  was  under  Wirz's  special  direction;  that  the  pursuit  of 
prisoners  was  in  many  instances  initiated  under  his  immediate  orders,  and  in 
some  cases  captures  were  made  under  his  personal  supervision.  It  was  also 
clearly  proved  that  a  part  of  each  pack  were  ferocious  dogs,  dangerous  to  life, 
so  as  to  make  it  probable  that  the  men  on  whose  track  they  were  sent  would 
be  killed.  A  man  overtaken  by  these  beasts,  and  desiring  to  surrender,  could 
not,  by  coming  to  a  stand,  save  his  life;  the  instinct  of  the  dogs  was  for  human 
blood,  and  to  surrender  to  them  was  death.  A  most  shocking  illustration  will 
be  given.  Two  soldiers  had  escaped,  but  were  overtaken;  the  party  who  captured 
them  returned  with  but  one  (who  was  so  mangled  that  he  died),  and  the  chief  of 
the  party,  known  as  Turner,  exulted  in  accounting  for  the  other,  stating  that  they 
allowed  the  dogs  to  tear  him  in  pieces,  and  left  him  in  the  woods. 

As  applying  to  the  question  of  criminal  responsibility  involved  in  this  class 
of  homicides,  the  judge  advocate  referred  the  court  to  the  well-settled  principle 
of  law,  that  it  is  not  essential  that  the  hand  of  the  party  should  be  the  immediate 
occasion  of  the  death,  but  that  if  it  be  shown  that  means  were  used  likely  to 
occasion  death,  and  which  did  so  occasion  it,  the  party  using  such  means  is  to  be 
held  responsible  for  the  consequences. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PEISONEKS.  433 

There  is  but  one  of  this  class  of  homicides  which  enters  into  the  findings  of 
"guilty/'  under  this  charge.  A  discussion  of  the  legal  points  involved  is  con 
ceived  to  be  needless,  inasmuch  as  the  charge  is  sustained  by  a  conviction  on  nine 
other  distinct  allegations  of  murder. 

As  to  the  deaths  resulting  from  the  use  of  stocks  and  chain-gangs,  the  defense 
urged  that  the  men  were  placed  therein  for  the  purposes  of  discipline;  that  they 
were  commonly  used  for  such  purposes;  and  that  their  use  at  this  place  was 
attributed  to  those  higher  in  authority  than  Wirz,  to  whose  orders  he  was 
subject.  Upon  this  point  it  is  to  be  observed  that  prisoners  were  put  in  these 
instruments  of  torture  as  punishment  for  having  escaped,  or  having  made  attempts 
to  escape  from  their  captors,  which  attempts,  whether  successful  or  not,  it  was 
their  right  and  duty  as  prisoners  of  war  to  make.  Any  punishment  inflicted 
upon  them,  therefore,  by  their  captors  was  a  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  and 
deaths  resulting  from  such  unlawful  punishment  are  murders.  This  would  be 
the  judgment  of  the  law  apart  from  some  of  the  peculiar  circumstances  which 
surround  these  crimes,  and  which  so  decidedly  indicate  their  true  character, 
prominent  among  which  is  the  often  declared  animus  of  the  prisoner,  showing 
conclusively  that  in  these  and  kindred  barbarities  he  was  deliberately  seeking 
to  sacrifice  the  lives  of  his  victims.  It  was  shown  that  these  stocks  and  chain- 
gangs  were  under  Wirz's  immediate  and  direct  control;  that  he  exercised  full 
authority  in  committing  prisoners  to  both.  While  it  may  be,  and  probably  is, 
the  fact  that  his  action  in  this  matter  was  sanctioned  by  the  rebel  Winder  when 
he  was  on  duty  at  that  place,  it  does  not  relieve  the  prisoner  of  responsibility 
for  the  result. 

Relating  to  the  three  homicides  embraced  in  the  third  class,  the  prisoner 
makes  no  special  defense,  except  a,s  to  the  killing  of  the  man  known  as  Chick- 
amauga.  He  urges  in  his  final  statement,  that  his  order  to  the  guard  to  shoot 
this  man  was  only  intended  as  a  menace.  It  is  clear,  however,  from  the  tes 
timony,  that  his  order  in  this  case,  as  in  the  others,  was  peremptory,  and,  accord 
ing  to  his  own  version,  it  was  not  a  command  that  could  be  construed  by  any 
subordinate  as  merely  a  menace;  moreover,  it  was  distinctly  proved  to  have  been 
accompanied  by  a  threat  that  he  would  shoot  the  guard  if  the  guard  did  not 
shoot  this  crippled  soldier.  He  states  further,  and  it  is  so  found  by  the  record, 
that  this  poor  man  desired  to  be  killed,  it  would  seem,  because  he  was  suspected 
by  his  comrades  of  having  given  information  to  the  prison-keepers  of  some 
attempts  of  prisoners  to  escape  from  the  stockade.  This  fact,  however,  in  no 
degree  palliates  his  murderous  guilt. 

Of  the  homicides  embraced  in  the  fourth  class  (those  committed  directly  by  his 
own  hands)  the  prisoner's  statement  notices  but  one,  that  of  Stewart,  sworn  to  by 
the  witness  Gray.  It  is  asserted  that  the  testimony  of  this  witness  is  a  pure 
fabrication.  There  is  nothing  found  in  the  examination  of  the  record  which  casts 
a  doubt  on  his  veracity,  and  the  court  seem  to  have  discovered  nothing  in  his 
manner  on  the  stand  to  raise  the  question  of  his  credibility. 

As  to  all  those  cases  not  heretofore  specially  mentioned,  the  defense  insists  that 
the  allegations  were  too  vague  and  indefinite,  and  that  the  testimony  is  insufficient 
to  sustain  them,  and  also  that  it  is  altogether  improbable  that  such  murders 
could  have  been  committed  without  coming  to  the  knowledge  of  various  witnesses, 


434  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

who  stated  that  they  had  never  heard  of  such  crimes  at  Andersonville.  No  evi 
dence  being  submitted  which  contradicts  the  concurrent  and  explicit  statements 
of  the  witnesses  who  gave  positive  testimony  of  their  perpetration,  these  murders 
are  fastened  to  Wirz's  hands. 

Many  points  were  raised  by  both  sides  relating  to  the  admission  of  evidence 
as  the  trial  progressed.  These  were  fully  debated  at  the  time.  No  discussion 
of  them  here  is  deemed  necessary,  it  not  being  found  that  competent  proof  material 
to  the  prisoner's  defense  on  the  specific  offenses  of  which  the  court  pronounced 
him  guilty  was  excluded. 

Much  latitude  seems  to  have  been  given  him.  He  was  allowed  to  show  special 
acts  of  kindness  to  prisoners,  and  to  introduce  declarations  made  by  himself  in 
explanation  of  his  acts.  Letters  and  official  reports,  and  oral  testimony  of  his 
personal  efforts,  offered  as  indicating  his  interest  in,  and  a  care  for,  the  comfort 
of  the  prisoners,  were  also  admitted.  It  is  shown  that  every  witness  asked  for 
by  the  defense  was  subpoenaed,  except  certain  rebel  functionaries,  who,  for  reasons 
stated  at  the  time,  did  not  appear  on  the  stand.  But  the  judge  advocate  pro 
posed  that  if  the  counsel  for  the  defense  would  set  forth,  according  to  the 
common  rule,  by  affidavit,  what  he  expected  and  had  reason  to  believe  any  witness 
who  did  not  so  appear  would  testify,  it  would  be  admitted  of  record  that  such 
witness  would  so  testify.  This  proposition  was  not  accepted.  One  hundred  and 
six  witnesses  were  subpoenaed  for  the  defense,  of  whom  sixty-eight  reported,  but 
thirty-nine  of  these,  many  of  them  soldiers  of  our  army,  and  sufferers  at  Ander 
sonville,  were  discharged  by  the  prisoner's  counsel  without  being  put  upon  the 
stand. 

A  review  of  the  proceedings  leads  to  the  opinion  that  no  prejudice  to  the  legal 
rights  of  the  prisoner  can  be  successfully  claimed  to  have  resulted  from  any 
decision  which  excluded  testimony  he  desired  to  introduce.  The  trial  is  believed 
to  have  been  conducted  in  accordance  with  the  regulations  governing  military 
courts,  and  the  record  presents  no  error  which  can  be  held  to  invalidate  the  pro- 


The  annals  of  our  race  present  nowhere  and  at  no  time  a  darker  field  of  crime 
than  that  of  Andersonville,  and  it  is  fortunate  for  the  interests  alike  of  public 
justice  and  of  historic  truth  that  from  this  field  the  veil  has  been  so  faithfully 
and  so  completely  lifted.  All  the  horrors  of  this  pandemonium  of  the  Kebellion 
are  laid  bare  to  us  in  the  broad,  steady  light  of  the  testimony  of  some  one  hundred 
and  fifty  witnesses  who  spoke  what  they  had  seen  and  heard  and  suffered,  and 
whose  evidence,  given  under  oath  and  subjected  to  cross-examination  and  to  every 
other  test  which  human  experience  has  devised  for  the  ascertainment  of  truth, 
must  be  accepted  as  affording  an  immovable  foundation  for  the  sentence  pro 
nounced. 

The  proof  under  the  second  charge  shows  that  some  of  our  soldiers,  for  mere 
attempts  to  escape  from  their  oppressors,  were  given  to  ferocious  dogs  to  be  torn 
in  pieces,  that  others  were  confined  in  stocks  and  chains  till  life  yielded  to  the 
torture,  and  that  others  were  wantonly  shot  down  at  Wirz's  bidding  or  by  his 
own  hand.  Here  in  the  presence  of  these  pitiless  murders  of  unarmed  and  help 
less  men,  so  distinctly  alleged  and  proved,  justice  might  well  claim  the  prisoner's 
life.  There  remain,  however,  to  be  contemplated  crimes  yet  more  revolting,  for 


THE  COUKT  AND  THE  TKIAL.  435 

which  he  and  his  co-conspirators  must  be  held  responsible.  The  Andersonville 
Prison  records  (made  exhibits  in  this  case)  contain  a  roster  of  over  thirteen 
thousand  dead,  buried  naked,  maimed,  and  putrid,  in  one  vast  sepulchre.  Of 
these,  a  surgeon  of  the  rebel  army  who  was  on  duty  at  this  prison  testifies  that 
at  least  three-fourths  died  of  the  treatment  inflicted  on  them  while  in  confinement; 
and  a  surgeon  of  our  own  army,  who  was  a  prisoner  there,  states  that  four-fifths 
died  from  this  cause.  Under  this  proof,  which  has  not  been  assailed,  nearly  ten 
thousand,  if  not  more,  of  these  deaths  must  be  charged  directly  to  the  account 
of  Wirz  and  his  associates.  This  widespread  sacrifice  of  life  was  not  made 
suddenly  or  under  the  influence  of  wild,  ungovernable  passion,  but  was  accom 
plished  slowly  and  deliberately,  by  packing  upwards  of  thirty  thousand  men, 
like  cattle,  in  a  fetid  pen — a  mere  cesspool,  there  to  die  for  need  of  air  to 
breathe,  for  want  of  ground  on  which  to  lie,  from  lack  of  shelter  from  sun  and 
rain,  and  from  the  slow,  agonizing  processes  of  starvation;  when  air  and  space 
and  shelter  and  food  were  all  within  the  ready  gift  of  their  tormenters.  This 
work  of  death  seems  to  have  been  a  saturnalia  of  enjoyment  for  the  prisoner, 
who  amid  these  savage  orgies  evidenced  such  exultation  and  mingled  with  them 
such  nameless  blasphemy  and  ribald  jests,  as  at  times  to  exhibit  him  rather  as 
a  demon  than  a  man.  It  was  his  continual  boast  that  by  these  barbarities  he 
was  destroying  more  Union  soldiers  than  rebel  generals  were  butchering  on  the 
battle-field.  He  claimed  to  be  doing  the  work  of  the  Eebellion,  and  faithfully, 
in  all  his  murderous  cruelty  and  baseness,  did  he  represent  its  spirit.  It  is  by 
looking  upon  the  cemeteries  which  have  been  filled  from  Libby,  Belle  Isle,  Salis 
bury,  Florence,  and  Andersonville,  and  other  rebel  prisons,  and  recalling  the 
prolonged  sufferings  of  the  patriots  who  are  sleeping  there,  that  we  can  best 
understand  the  inner  and  real  life  of  the  Eebellion,  and  the  hellish  criminality 
and  brutality  of  the  traitors  who  maintained  it.  For  such  crimes  human  power 
is  absolutely  impotent  to  enforce  any  adequate  atonement. 

It  may  be  added,  in  conclusion,  that  the  court  before  which  the  prisoner  was 
tried  was  composed  of  officers  high  in  rank,  and  eminent  for  their  faithful  services 
and  probity  of  character,  and  that  several  of  them  were  distinguished  for  their 
legal  attainments.  The  investigation  of  the  case  was  conducted  throughout  with 
patience  and  impartiality,  and  the  conclusion  reached  is  one  from  which  the  over 
whelming  volume  of  testimony  left  no  escape.  It  is  recommended  that  the  sentence 
be  executed.  J.  HOLT, 

Judge  Advocate-General. 


ORDER   OP   THE   PRESIDENT. 
[General  Court-martial  Orders  No.  607.] 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S  OFFICE, 

WASHINGTON,  November  6,  1865. 

I.  Before  a  military  commission  which  convened  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  August 
23,  1865,  pursuant  to  paragraph  3,  Special  Orders  No.  453,  dated  August  23, 
1865,  and  paragraph  13,  Special  Orders  No.  524,  dated  October  2,  1865,  War 


436  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

Department,  Adjutant-General's  Office,  Washington,  and  of  which  Major-General 
Lewis  Wallace,  United  States  Volunteers,  is  president,  was  arraigned  and  tried 
Henry  Wirz. 

[Here  follow  the  charges,  specifications,  findings,  and  sentence.] 

II.  The  proceedings,  findings,  and  sentence  in  the  foregoing  case  having  been 
submitted  to  the  President  of  the  United  States,  the  following  are  his  orders: 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  November  3,  1865. 

The  proceedings,  findings,  and  sentence  of  the  court  in  the  within  case  are 
approved,  and  it  is  ordered  that  the  sentence  be  carried  into  execution,  by  the 
officer  commanding  the  department  of  Washington,  on  Friday,  the  10th  day  of 
November,  1865,  between  the  hours  of  6  o'clock  A.  M.  and  12  o'clock  noon. 

ANDREW  JOHNSON,  President. 

III.  Major-General  C.  C.  Augur,  commanding  the  department  of  Washington, 
is  commanded  to  cause  the  foregoing  sentence,  in  the  case  of  Henry  Wirz,  to  be 
duly  executed,  in  accordance  with  the  President's  order. 

IV.  The  military  commission,  of  which  Major-General  Lewis  Wallace,  United 
States  Volunteers,  is  president,  is  hereby  dissolved. 

By  command  of  the  President  of  the  United  States: 

E.  D.  TOWNSEND, 
Assistant  Adjutant-General. 
Official : 

E.  D.  TOWNSEND, 
Assistant  Adjutant-General. 

LETTER   OF    THE    COMMANDING    GENERAL,    DEPARTMENT    OP    WASHINGTON, 
REPORTING  THE  EXECUTION  AND  BURIAL  OF  HENRY  WIRZ. 

HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  WASHINGTON, 

WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  November  11,  1865. 

SIR:  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  the  sentence  and  orders  of  the  President 
in  the  case  of  Henry  Wirz,  as  promulgated  in  General  Court-martial  Orders  No. 
607,  dated  War  Department,  Adjutant-General's  Office,  Washington,  November 
6,  1865,  have  been  duly  executed  (between  the  hours  of  10  and  11  A.  M.)  yesterday, 
November  10,  and  his  body  has  been  interred  by  the  side  of  Atzerodt,  in  the 
arsenal  grounds.  1 

I  am,  general,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

C.  C.  AUGUR, 

Major-Gen.  Vols.,  Commanding  Department. 
The  ADJUTANT-GENERAL  of  the  Army. 


1  Later   removed  to  Olivet  Cemetery  near  Washington. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

THE  CARTEL  SUSPENDED  —  EXCHANGING  OF  PRISONERS  INTERRUPTED  —  CAUSES 
THEREFOR — VIOLATION  OF  CARTEL  BY  EEBELS — KlGHT  TO  EXCHANGE  DENIED 
TO  NEGRO  SOLDIERS  AND  THEIR  OFFICERS — WHEN  CAPTURED  TREATED  AS 
FELONS — SUFFERINGS  OF  PRISONERS  DUE  TO  TREATMENT  THEY  KECEIVED,  NOT 
BECAUSE  CARTEL  WAS  SUSPENDED — EEBEL  COMMISSIONER  EGBERT  OULD,  MAN 
EUVERING  TO  GET  EXCESS  OF  PRISONERS  HELD  BY  FEDERALS  AND  USE  THEM 
AT  CRITICAL  PERIOD  OF  WAR — ACTION  OF  OUR  GOVERNMENT  FULLY  VIN 
DICATED — EEPORT  OF  GENERAL  HITCHCOCK,  FEDERAL  COMMISSIONER  OF  EX 
CHANGE,  COVERING  ENTIRE  SUBJECT — LETTER  OF  GENERAL  GRANT,  PART  OF 
WHICH  is  INSCRIBED  ON  THE  WIRZ  MONUMENT — INTERVIEW  WITH  COLONEL 
JOHN  MCELROY,  A  PRISONER  AT  ANDERSONVILLE — THE  EVOLUTION  OF  SLAVES 
TO  THE  STATUS  OF  UNITED  STATES  SOLDIERS — SOME  INTERESTING  FACTS  ABOUT 
THE  NEGRO  AS  A  SOLDIER. 

r  I  ^HE  slavery  question  not  only  led  to  the  Civil  War,  but,  in  the 
-*-  midst  of  the  struggle  to  preserve  the  Union,  it  was  largely  in 
strumental  in  causing  the  suspension  of  the  cartel  and  breaking  off  a 
general  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war.  It  will  not  be  without  interest 
to  trace  briefly  the  evolutionary  processes  through  which,  prior  to 
President  Lincoln's  proclamation  of  freedom,  large  bodies  of  the 
slaves  of  the  South  passed,  and  by  which  they  attained  recognition 
of  their  liberty  by  our  government,  and  were  mustered  into  military 
service,  and  partly  in  consequence  of  which  the  exchange  of  prisoners 
was  interrupted. 

The  secession  of  the  Southern  states  from  the  Union  and  the  taking 
possession  by  them  of  the  forts,  buildings,  arsenals,  custom-houses, 
and  other  public  property  of  the  government  within  their  borders, 
necessarily  made  the  army  for  the  restoration  of  the  Union  an  army 
of  invasion  of  the  rebel  territory.  The  border  slave  states  of  Mary 
land,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Missouri,  and  a  considerable  portion  of 
West  Virginia  refused  to  join  in  the  Rebellion,  but  to  reach  the  armed 
forces  of  the  enemy  the  Union  armies  were  compelled  to  pass  over 
this  slave  territory,  and  they  necessarily  came  in  contact  with  the 
system  of  slavery  and  with  slave-owners.  Many  of  these  latter  were 
loyal  to  the  Union,  but  still  many  others  had  either  gone  south  to 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PEISONEES.  439 

join  the  enemy  or  were  disloyal,  and,  though  remaining  in  loyal  ter 
ritory,  secretly  gave  such  aid  and  comfort  to  the  enemy  as  they  could 
with  safety  to  their  persons  and  property. 

Prior  to  President  Lincoln's  inauguration,  the  newspapers  and 
public  men  of  the  South  had  proclaimed  that  war  was  inevitable,  and 
that  the  purpose  of  the  North  was  to  free  the  slaves.  Naturally,  as 
the  armies  of  the  North  passed  into  slave  territory,  the  negroes  flocked 
to  the  camps  in  the  hope  of  enjoying  that  freedom  which  they  had 
been  taught  to  hope  was  the  purpose  of  the  North  to  give  them.  And 
this  was  the  situation  from  Maryland  to  Missouri — touching  thousands 
of  helpless  men,  women,  and  children.  A  similar  condition  also  arose 
along  the  Atlantic  Coast  wherever  our  army,  with  the  aid  of  the  navy, 
was  able  to  maintain  a  footing — notably  along  the  eastern  shore  of 
Virginia  and  at  points  on  the  Carolina  coast  and  the  coast  of  Florida. 

So  anxious  was  the  government  to  give  the  loyal  slaveholders  and 
the  world  generally  the  assurance  that  its  object  was  to  restore  the 
Union,  and  not  in  any  way  to  interfere  with  slavery,  that  every  effort 
was  made  to  prevent  the  coming  of  slaves  into  our  lines,  and  when 
there  to  compel  them  to  return  to  their  masters. 

On  August  30,  1861,  General  Fremont,  commanding  the  western 
department,  at  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  issued  a  proclamation  declaring 
martial  law  throughout  the  state  of  Missouri,  and  ordering  all  persons 
found  with  arms  in  their  hands  to  be  tried  by  court-martial  and,  if 
found  guilty,  to  be  shot,  besides  confiscating  all  property  of  such  per 
sons  and  liberating  their  slaves.1 

This  led  to  a  retaliatory  order  by  General  Jeff.  Thompson  on  Sep 
tember  2,  1861,  in  which  he  declared  that  "for  every  member  of  the 
Missouri  state  guard  or  soldiers  of  our  allies,  the  armies  of  the  Con 
federate  States,  who  shall  be  put  to  death  in  pursuance  of  said  order 
of  General  Fremont  I  will  hang,  draw,  and  quarter  a  minion  of  said 
Abraham  Lincoln."2 

On  September  2,  1861,  President  Lincoln  wrote  General  Fremont, 
pointing  out  the  embarrassing  nature  of  his  order,  and  asking  him  on 
his  own  motion  to  withdraw  it.3  Fremont  refused  to  voluntarily  mod 
ify  his  order,  and  the  President  promptly  did  so  on  September  llth.4 

General  Halleck,  who  later  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  depart 
ment,  on  November  20,  1861,  issued  general  orders  No.  3,  directing 
that  "no  such  person  [slave]  be  permitted  to  enter  the  lines  of  any 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.   i,  series  2,  p.  221. 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  181. 

3  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  766. 

4  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  778. 


440  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

camp  or  of  any  force  on  the  march  and  that  any  now  within  such  lines 
be  immediately  excluded  therefrom."1 

The  following  resolution  was  introduced  in  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  December  9,  1861 : 

Whereas,  Major-General  Halleck  of  the  western  department  has  issued  an  order 
prohibiting  negroes  from  coming  within  the  lines  of  our  army  and  excluding 
those  already  under  the  protection  of  our  troops;  and  whereas,  a  different  policy 
and  practice  prevails  in  other  departments  by  the  direct  sanction  of  the  administra 
tion;  and  whereas,  said  order  is  cruel  and  inhuman  and  in  the  judgment  of  this 
house  based  upon  no  military  necessity;  .  .  .  That  the  president  be  respectfully 
requested  to  direct  General  Halleck  to  recall  said  order  or  cause  it  to  conform 
with  the  practice  in  other  departments  of  our  army.2 

On  December  llth  this  resolution  was  laid  on  the  table  by  a  vote 
of  78  to  64. 

On  November  23,  1861,  at  Fort  Holt,  Kentucky,  the  commanding 
officer  issued  an  order  reading:  "No  officer  or  soldier  will  be  allowed 
to  arrest,  secrete,  or  harbor  or  in  any  way  interfere  with  persons  held 
to  service  [negroes],  property  of  citizens  in  slave  states."3 

General  Grant  addressed  a  letter  to  Colonel  Cook,  commanding  at 
Fort  Holt,  on  December  25th,  calling  attention  to  General  Halleck's 
order  No.  3,  and  said :  "I  do  not  want  the  army  used  as  negro-catchers, 
but  still  less  do  I  want  to  see  it  used  as  a  cloak  to  cover  their  escape. 
*No  matter  what  our  private  views  may  be  on  this  subject,  there  are 
in  this  department  positive  orders  on  the  subject,  and  these  orders 
must  be  obeyed."4 

A  similar  policy  was  enforced  in  other  parts  of  Kentucky. 

General  W.  T.  Sherman,  then  commanding  at  Louisville,  Kentucky, 
wrote  to  Colonel  Turchin  on  October  15,  1861,  as  follows:  "Two  gen 
tlemen  unknown  to  me,  but  introduced  by  Mr.  Guthrie,  say  some 
negro  slaves  have  taken  refuge  in  our  camp  and  are  there  sheltered. 
The  laws  of  the  United  States  and  of  Kentucky,  all  of  which  are 
binding  upon  us,  compel  us  to  surrender  a  runaway  negro  on  appli 
cation  of  negro's  owner  or  agent.  I  believe  that  you  have  not  been 
instrumental  in  this,  but  my  orders  are  that  all  negroes  shall  be 
delivered  upon  claim  of  the  owner  or  agent.  Better  keep  the  negroes 
out  of  your  camp  altogether  unless  you  brought  them  along  with  your 
regiment."5 


1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.   i 
8  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i 
4  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i 
6  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i 


series  2,  p.  778. 
series  2,  p.  784. 
series  2,  p.  779. 
series  2,  p.  794. 
series  2,  p.  774. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PKISONEKS.  441 

In  the  armies  of  the  East  commanders  were  confronted  with  the 
same  problem  and  surrounded  with  like  embarrassments.  The  negroes 
were  put  to  work  and  otherwise  cared  for  while  the  permanent  solu 
tion  of  the  difficulty  was  in  abeyance. 

General  Benj.  F.  Butler  was  in  command  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Vir 
ginia.  A  better  lawyer  than  military  tactician,  he  was,  I  believe,  the 
first  to  make  the  point — the  theory  on  which  slaves  were  held,  i.  e. 
as  property — that  when  captured  or  otherwise  coming  into  our  pos 
session  they  became  contraband  of  war,  and  the  appellation  of  "contra 
bands"  was  thereafter  applied  to  them.  It  has  always  seemed  to  me 
that  a  much  broader  principle  was  applicable  to  these  unfortunate 
human  beings,  which  would  carry  with  it,  under  the  existing  circum 
stances,  a  right  to  freedom,  and  to  be  treated  by  us  as  entitled  to  such 
right,  and  not  merely  as  property  contraband  of  war.  And  the  status 
of  absolute  freedom  was  finally  given  them  by  our  government  and 
resolutely  and  to  the  end  maintained. 

The  following  correspondence  will  illustrate  that  as  early  as  in 
May,  1861,  at  Fortress  Monroe,  Virginia,  the  question  had  become  a 
serious  problem  in  the  conduct  of  the  war : 

HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  VIRGINIA, 

FORT  MONROE,  May  27,  1861. 
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  SCOTT. 

SIR:  .  .  .  Since  I  wrote  my  last  despatch  the  question  in  regard  to  slave  prop 
erty  is  becoming  one  of  very  serious  magnitude.  The  inhabitants  of  Virginia  are 
using  their  slaves  in  the  batteries  and  are  preparing  to  send  the  women  and 
children  south.  The  escapes  from  them  are  very  numerous  and  a  squad  has  come 
in  this  morning  to  my  pickets  bringing  their  women  and  children.  Of  course  these 
cannot  be  dealt  with  upon  the  theory  on  which  I  designed  to  treat  the  services  of 
able-bodied  men  and  women  who  might  come  within  my  lines,  and  of  which  1 
gave  you  a  detailed  account  in  my  last  despatch.  I  am  in  the  utmost  doubt  what 
to  do  with  this  species  of  property.  Up  to  this  time  I  have  had  come  within  my 
lines  men  and  women  with  their  children,  entire  families,  each  family  belonging  to 
the  same  owner.  I  have  therefore  determined  to  employ  as  I  can  do  very  profit 
ably  the  able-bodied  persons  in  the  party,  issuing  proper  food  for  the  support  of 
all  and  charging  against  their  services  the  expense  of  care  and  sustenance  of  the 
non-laborers,  keeping  a  strict  and  accurate  account  as  well  of  the  services  as  of  the 
expenditure,  having  the  worth  of  the  services  and  the  cost  of  the  expenditure 
determined  by  a  board  of  survey  to  be  hereafter  detailed.  I  know  of  no  other 
manner  in  which  to  dispose  of  this  subject  and  the  questions  connected  therewith. 
As  a  matter  of  property  to  the  insurgents  it  will  be  of  very  great  moment,  the 
number  that  I  now  have  amounting  as  I  am  informed  to  what  in  good  times  would 
be  of  the  value  of  $60,000.  Twelve  of  these  negroes  I  am  informed  have  escaped 
from  the  batteries  on  Sewall's  Point,  which  this  morning  fired  upon  my  expedition 


442  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

as  it  passed  by  out  of  range.  As  a  means  of  offense  therefore  in  the  enemy's 
hands  these  negroes,  when  able-bodied,  are  of  the  last  importance.  Without  them 
the  batteries  could  not  have  been  erected,  at  least  for  many  weeks.  As  a  military 
question  it  would  seem  to  be  a  measure  of  necessity  to  deprive  their  masters  of 
their  services.  How  can  this  be  done?  As  a  political  question  and  a  question  of 
humanity  can  I  receive  the  services  of  a  father  and  mother  and  not  take  the 
children?  Of  the  humanitarian  aspect  I  have  no  doubt;  of  the  political  one  I 
have  no  right  to  judge.  .  .  . 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

B.  F.  BUTLER.I 


WASHINGTON,  May  30,  1861. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  BUTLER: 

SIR:  Your  action  in  respect  to  the  negroes  who  came  in  your  lines  from  the 
service  of  the  rebels  is  approved. 

The  department  is  sensible  of  the  embarrassment  which  must  surround  officers 
conducting  military  operations  in  a  state  by  the  laws  of  which  slavery  is  sanc 
tioned.  The  government  cannot  recognize  the  rejection  by  any  state  of  its 
federal  obligations  nor  can  it  refuse  the  performance  of  the  federal  obligations 
resting  upon  itself.  Among  these  federal  obligations,  however,  none  can  be  more 
important  than  that  of  suppressing  and  dispersing  armed  combinations  formed 
for  the  purpose  of  overthrowing  its  whole  constitutional  authority.  While  there 
fore  you  will  permit  no  interference  by  the  persons  under  your  command  with  the 
relations  of  persons  held  to  service  under  the  laws  of  any  state,  you  will,  on  the 
other  hand,  so  long  as  any  state  within  which  your  military  operations  are  con 
ducted  is  under  the  control  of  such  armed  combinations,  refrain  from  surrendering 
to  alleged  masters  any  persons  who  may  come  within  your  lines.  You  will  employ 
such  persons  in  the  service  to  which  they  may  be  best  adapted,  keeping  an  account 
of  the  labor  by  them  performed,  of  the  value  of  it,  and  of  the  expense  of  their 
maintenance.  The  question  of  their  final  disposition  will  be  reserved  for  future 
determination.  SIMON  CAMERON, 

Secretary  of  War.  2 


General  Dix,  at  Baltimore,  on  August  25,  1861,  wrote  to  General 
McClellan  as  follows: 

HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA, 

•  BALTIMORE,  MD.,  August  25,  1861. 
MAJ.-GEN.  G.  B.  MCCLELLAN, 

Commanding  Army  of  Potomac. 

GENERAL:  Early  this  morning  three  negro  men  came  to  Fort  McIIenry  repre 
senting  themselves  to  be  runaway  slaves  from  Anne  Arundel  County.  I  declined 
to  receive  them  into  the  fort  on  the  ground  that  I  could  neither  harbor  them  as 
fugitives  from  service  nor  arrest  them  for  the  purpose  of  restoring  them  to  their 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  754. 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  z,  p.  754. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  443 

masters.  In  a  former  letter  I  stated  the  view  I  take  in  regard  to  my  duty  in  such 
cases,  and  having  no  instructions  from  the  government  I  acted  on  it  and  directed 
the  negroes  to  leave  the  fort. 

I  am,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

[JOHN  A.  Dix,] 
Major-General  Commanding^ 

Colonel  Harvey  Brown,  commanding  at  Fort  Pickens,  department 
of  Florida,  wrote  Assistant  Ad  jut  ant- General  Townsend  at  Washing 
ton  on  June  22,  1861,  as  follows:  "I  shall  not  send  the  negroes  back, 
as  I  will  never  be  voluntarily  instrumental  in  returning  a  poor  wretch 
to  slavery,  but  will  hold  them  subject  to  orders."2 

General  T.  W.  Sherman  wrote  the  Adjutant-General  from  Port 
Royal,  South  Carolina,  on  December  15,  1861 : 

GENERAL  L.  THOMAS, 

Adjutant-General  U.  S.  Army,  Washington,  D.  C. 

SIR:  For  the  information  of  the  proper  authorities  and  for  fear  lest  the  gov 
ernment  may  be  disappointed  in  the  amount  of  labor  to  be  gathered  here  from 
the  contrabands,  I  have  the  honor  to  report  that  from  the  hordes  of  negroes  left 
on  the  plantations  but  about  320  have  thus  far  come  in  and  offered  their  services. 
Of  these  the  quartermaster  has  but  about  sixty  able-bodied  male  hands,  the  rest 
being  decrepit  and  women  and  children.  Several  of  the  320  have  run  off.  Every 
inducement  has  been  held  out  to  them  to  come  in  and  labor  for  wages  and  money 
distributed  among  those  who  have  labored.  The  reasons  for  this  apparent  failure 
thus  far  appear  to  be  these: 

First.  They  are  naturally  slothful  and  indolent  and  have  always  been  accustomed 
to  the  lash,  an  aid  we  do  not  make  use  of. 

Second.  They  appear  to  be  so  overjoyed  with  the  change  of  their  condition  that 
their  minds  are  unsettled  to  any  plan. 

Third.  Their  present  ease  and  comfort  on  the  plantations  as  long  as  their  pro 
visions  will  last  will  induce  most  of  them  to  remain  there  until  compelled  to  seek 
our  lines  for  subsistence. 

Although  comparatively  few  have  thus  far  come  in  it  is  therefore  probable  that 
in  time  many  will,  and  if  they  are  to  be  received  and  taken  care  of  some  provision 
should  be  made  to  cover  them.  They  are  a  prolific  race  and  it  will  be  found  that 
for  every  able-bodied  male  there  will  be  five  to  six  females,  children  and  decrepit. 
It  is  really  a  question  for  the  government  to  decide  what  is  to  be  done  with  the 
contrabands. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

T.  W.  SHERMAN, 
Brigadier-General  Commanding,  s 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  766. 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  755. 

3  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  785. 


444  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

The  following  confidential  letter  will  show  with  what  hesitating 
policies  the  negro  question  was  being  treated  and  indicates  the  embar 
rassment  of  the  President  in  dealing  with  it : 

[Confidential.]  HEADQUARTERS  OF  THE  ARMY, 

WASHINGTON,  July  16,  1861. 
BRIGADIER-GENERAL  MCDOWELL,  Commanding,  #c. 

SIR:  The  general-in-chief  desires  me  to  communicate  to  you  that  he  has  re 
ceived  from  the  president  of  the  United  States  a  second  note  dated  to-day  on  the 
subject  of  fugitive  slaves  in  which  he  asks:  "Would  it  not  be  well  to  allow 
owners  to  bring  back  those  which  have  crossed"  the  Potomac  with  our  troops? 
The  general  earnestly  invites  your  attention  to  this  subject,  knowing  that  you  with 
himself  enter  fully  into  his  excellency's  desire  to  carry  out  to  the  fullest  all 
constitutional  obligations.  Of  course  it  is  the  general's  wish  the  name  of  the 
president  should  not  at  this  time  be  brought  before  the  public  in  connection  with 
this  delicate  subject. 

I  remain,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

SCHUYLER  HAMILTON, 
Lieutenant -Colonel  and  Military  Secretary.* 

Thus  we  see  that  an  officer  in  Florida  positively  refused  without 
orders  to  return  negroes  to  slavery.  And  yet  we  find  that  about  the 
same  time  such  orders  were  sent  to  General  McDowell  with  the  sanc 
tion  of  the  president. 

On  January  7,  1862,  in  his  instructions  to  General  Burnside,  who 
was  about  to  embark  with  the  navy  on  an  expedition  along  the  south 
ern  coast,  General  McClellan  cautioned  him  that  in  making  any  proc 
lamation  to  "say  as  little  as  possible  about  politics  or  the  negro. 
Merely  state  that  the  true  issue  for  which  we  are  fighting  is  the  pres 
ervation  of  the  Union  and  upholding  of  the  laws  of  the  general  gov 
ernment,  and  stating  that  all  who  conduct  themselves  properly  will  as 
far  as  possible  be  protected  in  their  persons  and  property."2 

But  it  soon  became  apparent  that  it  was  practically  impossible  to 
hold  the  slaves  back  or  prevent  their  coming,  and  to  drive  them  out 
of  camp  and  away  from  protection  and  support  meant  starvation  in 
some  cases  and  in  others  their  restoration  to  families  whose  heads 
were  in  active  rebellion,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  fighting  the  very 
soldiers  who  were  engaged  in  restoring  to  them  their  slaves. 

Secretary  of  War  Cameron,  on  December  6,  1861,  very  clearly  put 
the  situation  before  Congress,  as  follows: 


War  of  Rebellion,  vol.   i,  series  2,  p.  760. 
War  of  Rebellion,  vol.   i,  series  2,  p.  798. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  445 

It  is  already  a  grave  question  what  shall  be  done  with  the  slaves  abandoned  by 
their  owners  on  the  advance  of  our  troops  into  Southern  territory,  as  at  Beaufort 
district  of  South  Carolina.  The  number  left  within  our  control  at  that  point  is 
very  considerable  and  similar  cases  will  occur.  What  shall  be  done  with  them? 
Can  we  afford  to  send  them  forward  to  their  masters  to  be  by  them  armed  against 
us  or  used  in  producing  supplies  to  sustain  the  Rebellion?  Their  labor  may  be 
useful  to  us.  Withheld  from  the  enemy  it  lessens  his  military  resources  and  with 
holding  them  has  no  tendency  to  induce  the  horrors  of  insurrection  -even  in  the 
rebel  communities.  They  constitute  a  military  resource,  and  being  such,  that  they 
should  not  be  turned  over  to  the  enemy,  is  too  plain  to  discuss.  Why  deprive  him 
of  supplies  by  a  blockade  and  voluntarily  give  him  men  to  produce  them? 

The  disposition  to  be  made  of  the  slaves  of  rebels  after  the  close  of  the  war 
can  safely  be  left  to  the  wisdom  and  patriotism  of  Congress.  The  representatives 
of  the  people  will  unquestionably  secure  to  the  loyal  slaveholders  every  right  to 
which  they  are  entitled  under  the  constitution  of  the  country. 

SIMON  CAMERON, 
Secretary  of  War.i 

The  Congress  was  not  indifferent  to  the  exigencies  nor  unmindful 
of  the  anomalous  position  the  army  was  being  placed  in  by  being 
called  upon  to  return  negroes  to  slavery.  A  resolution  was  introduced 
in  the  House  of  Representatives  and  adopted  on  December  23,  1861, 
and  on  March  13,  1862,  it  was  enacted  into  law  as  an  army  regulation. 
The  resolution  was  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  committee  on  military  affairs  be  instructed  to  report  to  this 
house  a  bill  for  the  enactment  of  an  additional  article  of  war  for  the  government 
of  the  army  whereby  the  officers  in  the  military  service  of  the  United  States  shall 
be  prohibited  from  using  any  portion  of  the  forces  under  their  respective  com 
mands  for  the  purpose  of  returning  fugitives  from  service  or  labor,  and  providing 
for  the  punishment  of  such  officers  as  may  violate  said  article  by  dismissal  from 
the  service.2 

SLAVES    MUSTERED   IN   AS   UNITED    STATES   SOLDIERS. 

General  Hunter  had  established  a  hold  upon  the  coast  of  South 
Carolina.  He  took  the  bull  by  the  horns,  and  not  only  set  the  negroes 
at  work,  but  organized  them  into  companies  and  armed  them.  This 
called  for  an  inquiry  from  Congress,  through  Secretary  Stanton,  to 
which  General  Hunter  replied  in  a  characteristic  letter.  Hunter  was 
a  trained  soldier,  a  stern,  fearless,  and  uncompromising  patriot,  who 
saw  farther  into  the  causes  and  purposes  of  the  Rebellion  than  many 
others  of  that  day.  His  letter  3  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  the  con- 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  783. 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  i,  series  2,  p.  791. 

3  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.   i,  series  2,  p.  820. 


446  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

flicting  sentiment  of  the  period  on  the  relations  of  the  slaves  to  the 
war,  and  is  good  reading  at  this  time.    It  is  as  follows : 

HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  SOUTH, 
HON.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  PORT  EOYAL,  S.  C.,  June  23,  1862. 

Secretary  of  War,  Washington,  D.  C. 

SIR:  I  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  a  communication  from  the 
adjutant-general  of  the  army,  dated  June  13,  1862,  requesting  me  to  furnish  you 
with  the  information  necessary  to  answer  certain  resolutions  introduced  to  the 
House  of  Kepresentatives  June  9,  1862,  on  motion  of  the  Hon.  Mr.  Wickliffe,  of 
Kentucky,  their  substance  being  to  inquire: 

1.  Whether  I  had  organized  or  was  organizing  a  regiment  of  "fugitive  slaves" 
in  this  department? 

2.  Whether  any  authority  had  been  given  me  from  the  war  department  for  such 
organization;  and 

3.  Whether  I  had  been  furnished  by  the  war  department  with  clothing,  uniforms, 
arms,  equipments,  etc.,  for  such  a  force? 

Only  having  received  the  letter  covering  these  inquiries  at  a  late  hour  on  Satur 
day  night  I  urge  forward  my  answer  in  time  for  the  steamer  sailing  to-day 
(Monday),  this  haste  preventing  me  from  entering  as  minutely  as  I  could  wish 
upon  many  points  of  detail  such  as  the  paramount  importance  of  the  subject  calls 
for.  But  in  view  of  the  near  termination  of  the  present  session  of  Congress  and 
the  widespread  interest  which  must  have  been  awakened  by  Mr.  Wickliffe's 
resolutions,  I  prefer  sending  even  this  imperfect  answer  to  waiting  the  period 
necessary  for  the  collection  of  fuller  and  more  comprehensive  data. 

To  the  first  question  therefore  I  reply  that  no  regiment  of  "fugitive  slaves"  has 
been  or  is  being  organized  in  this  department.  There  is,  however,  a  fine  regiment 
of  persons  whose  late  masters  are  "fugitive  rebels" — men  who  everywhere  fly  before 
the  appearance  of  the  national  flag,  leaving  their  servants  behind  them  to  shift  as 
best  they  can  for  themselves.  So  far  indeed  are  the  loyal  persons  composing  this 
regiment  from  seeking  to  avoid  the  presence  of  their  late  owners  that  they  are 
now  one  and  all  working  with  remarkable  industry  to  place  themselves  in  a  position 
to  go  in  full  and  effective  pursuit  of  their  fugacious  and  traitorous  proprietors. 

To  the  second  question  I  have  the  honor  to  answer  that  the  instructions  given 
to  Brig.-Gen.  T.  W.  Sherman  by  the  Hon.  Simon  Cameron,  late  secretary  of  war, 
and  turned  over  to  me  by  succession  for  my  guidance,  do  distinctly  authorize  me 
to  employ  all  loyal  persons  offering  their  services  in  defense  of  the  Union  and  for 
the  suppression  of  this  Rebellion,  in  any  manner  I  might  see  fit  or  that  the  circum 
stances  might  call  for.  There  is  no  restriction  as  to  the  character  or  color  of  the 
persons  to  be  employed  or  the  nature  of  the  employment — whether  civil  or  military 
— in  which  their  services  should  be  used.  I  conclude  therefore  that  I  have  been 
authorized  to  enlist  "fugitive  slaves"  as  soldiers,  could  any  be  found  in  this  depart 
ment.  No  such  characters,  however,  have  yet  appeared  within  view  of  our  most 
advanced  pickets — the  loyal  slaves  everywhere  remaining  on  their  plantations  to 
welcome  us,  aid  us,  and  supply  us  with  food,  labor  and  information.  It  is  the 
masters  who  have  in  every  instance  been  the  "fugitives,"  running  away  from  loyal 
slaves  and  loyal  soldiers,  and  whom  we  have  only  partially  been  able  to  see — 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PEISONEES.  447 

chiefly  their  heads  over  ramparts  or  rifle  in  hand  dodging  behind  trees  in  the 
extreme  distance.  In  the  absence  of  any  "fugitive-master  law"  the  deserted  slaves 
would  be  wholly  without  remedy  had  not  the  crime  of  treason  given  them  the 
right  to  pursue,  capture  and  bring  back  those  persons  of  whose  protection  they 
have  been  thus  suddenly  bereft. 

To  the  third  interrogatory  it  is  my  painful  duty  to  reply  that  I  have  never 
received  any  specific  authority  for  issues  of  clothing,  uniforms,  arms,  equipments 
and  so  forth  to  the  troops  in  question.  My  general  instructions  from  Mr.  Cameron 
to  employ  them  in  any  manner  I  might  find  necessary,  and  the  military  exigencies 
of  the  department  and  the  country  being  my  only  but  in  my  judgment  sufficient 
justification.  Neither  have  I  any  specific  authority  for  supplying  these  persons 
with  shovels,  spades  and  pickaxes  when  employing  them  as  laborers,  nor  with 
boats  and  oars  when  using  them  as  lightermen;  but  these  are  not  points  included 
in  Mr.  Wickliffe's  resolution.  To  me  it  seemed  that  liberty  to  employ  men  in  any 
particular  capacity  implied  with  it  liberty  also  to  supply  them  with  the  necessary 
tools,  and  acting  upon  this  faith  I  have  clothed,  equipped  and  armed  the  only 
loyal  regiment  yet  raised  in  South  Carolina. 

I  must  say,  in  vindication  of  my  own  conduct,  that  had  it  not  been  for  the 
many  other  diversified  and  imperative  claims  on  my  time  and  attention,  a  much 
more  satisfactory  result  might  have  been  hoped  for,  and  that  in  place  of  only 
one,  as  at  present,  at  least  five  or  six  well-drilled,  brave  and  thoroughly-acclimated 
regiments  should  by  this  time  have  been  added  to  the  loyal  forces  of  the  Union. 

The  experiment  of  arming  the  blacks,  so  far  as  I  have  made  it,  has  been  a  com 
plete  and  even  marvelous  success.  They  are  sober,  docile,  attentive  and  en 
thusiastic,  displaying  great  natural  capabilities  for  acquiring  the  duties  of  a 
soldier.  They  are  eager  beyond  all  things  to  take  the  field  and  be  led  into  action, 
and  it  is  the  unanimous  opinion  of  the  officers  who  have  had  charge  of  them  that 
in  the  peculiarities  of  this  climate  and  country  they  will  prove  invaluable  auxiliaries, 
fully  equal  to  the  similar  regiments  so  long  and  successfully  used  by  the  British 
authorities  in  the  West  India  Islands. 

In  conclusion  I  would  say  it  is  my  hope — there  appearing  no  possibility  of  other 
re-enforcements,  owing  to  the  exigencies  of  the  campaign  in  the  Peninsula — to  have 
organized  by  next  fall,  and  to  be  able  to  present  to  the  government,  from  48,000  to 
50,000  of  these  hardy  and  devoted  soldiers. 

Trusting  that  this  letter  may  form  part  of  your  answer  to  Mr.  Wickliffe's 
resolutions, 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  most  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

D.  HUNTER, 
Major-General,  Commanding .1 

It  thus  will  be  seen,  by  gradual  and  inevitable  progressive  steps, 
thousands  of  negro  slaves  became  free  and  were  so  recognized  before 
the  immortal  proclamation  of  universal  freedom.  From  slavery  to 

1  No  one  can  fail  to  admire  the  bold  frankness  of  this  letter  and  the  obviously  practical  view 
of  the  situation  taken  by  General  Hunter.  It  will  be  recalled  that  many  eminent  men  in  the 
South  advocated  arming  the  slaves  in  defense  of  the  Rebellion — most  remarkable,  indeed,  as 
it  would  have  been  asking  the  slaves  to  fight  for  the  privilege  of  having  their  fetters  more 
strongly  riveted  upon  them. 


448  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

the  proud  position  of  a  United  States  soldier,  an  honored  defender 
of  the  Union,  was  indeed  a  remarkable  transformation  and  a  most 
striking  departure  from  the  earlier  reception  given  to  fugitive  slaves. 

The  organization  of  negro  companies  and  regiments  to  aid  in  the 
preservation  of  the  government  which  was  then  protecting  them  and 
their  families  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  liberty,  and  whose  former 
masters  were  in  the  armies  of  the  Rebellion,  seeking  to  destroy  that 
government,  was  justifiable  on  principles  of  international  law,  of  self- 
preservation,  and  on  the  part  of  the  slaves  was  as  an  acknowledgment 
of  a  reciprocal  obligation  due  for  the  protection  and  freedom  bestowed 
upon  them.  And  when  once  enlisted  as  soldiers,  they  became  entitled 
to  the  same  protection  from  our  government,  should  they  become  pris 
oners  of  war,  taken  in  honorable  battle,  as  any  other  of  our  prisoners. 

And  this  brings  me  to  one  of  the  causes  for  the  breaking  off  of  the 
general  exchange  of  prisoners  which  had  theretofore  taken  place  under 
the  cartel. 

The  rebel  congress  passed  an  act  outlawing  any  white  officer  who 
when  taken  prisoner  was  in  command  of  negro  troops  and  prescribing 
as  penalty  the  fate  of  a  felon.  The  negro  troops  themselves  were  to 
be  restored  to  their  masters  or  put  to  hard  labor.  This  brutal  and 
barbarous  policy  was  to  some  extent  enforced.  In  some  instances 
negro  troops  and  their  officers  were  shown  no  quarter  when  captured 
and  were  murdered  in  cold  blood.  The  Fort  Pillow  massacre  will  be 
recalled.  The  right  of  exchange  was  denied  them,  officers  were  igno- 
miniously  treated,  and  the  enlisted  men  were,  as  at  Andersonville,  put 
to  work  on  fortifications  or  other  defensive  work,  were  treated  with 
great  severity, — at  times  punished  by  whipping, — and  at  no  time  and 
in  no  instance  given  recognition  as  soldiers.  When  this  policy  became 
known  to  the  Federal  authorities  a  most  vigorous  protest"  was  sent 
through  the  officers  of  exchange;  threats  of  retaliation  were  made, 
and,  pending  the  settlement  of  the  question  upon  a  basis  that  would 
accord  equal  treatment  to  all  United  States  prisoners  of  war,  general 
exchanges,  which  had  been  going  on  under  the  cartel,  ceased. 

THE  NEGRO  AS  A  SOLDIER. 

Iii  a  very  interesting  and  instructive  lecture  delivered  at  Boston 
by  Brigadier-General  Andrew  S.  Burt,  U.  S.  A.,  retired,  on  December 
12,  1910  and  published  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post  December  17, 
1910,  he  shows  what  splendid  soldiers  the  negroes  made  and  how  valu 
able  their  services  became  in  the  struggle  to  maintain  the  Union ;  and 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PKISONERS.  449 

that  now,  in  time  of  peace  and  in  garrison  duty,  they  have  shown 
themselves  to  be  model  soldiers.  There  were  187,000  negroes  enlisted 
during  the  Civil  War,  many  more  than  most  people  realize.  I  quote : 

They  participated  in  213  battles  and  engagements,  and  never  permitted  the 
Union  colors  to  be  dishonored  by  cowardice  or  treachery.  .  .  .  The  glorious  achieve 
ments  of  the  negro  soldiers  in  the  war  for  independence  were  forgotten  in  the 
second  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  when  they  drove  back  General  Packenham, 
and  kept  him  out  of  New  Orleans  in  1812,  it  was  hailed  as  a  new  discovery  of  the 
military  capacity  of  our  people. 

When  the  Civil  War  came  on,  it  was  not  until  the  second  year  of  that  death- 
grapple  that  the  negro  soldiers  were  permitted  to  enlist  and  then  on  half -pay;  but 
before  the  terrible  struggle  was  concluded  they  had  written  a  new  chapter  in 
heroism  and  one  which  will  never  perish.  Their  brilliant  achievements  at  Forts 
Wagner  and  Olustee,  Fort  Hudson  and  Milliken's  Bend,  made  them  welcome  into 
the  flower  of  the  army — the  Army  of  the  Potomac — in  the  closing  months  of  those 
bloody  conflicts  in  front  of  Eichmond  and  Petersburg.  In  the  battles  of  Wilson's 
Wharf,  Deep  Bottom,  Chapin's  Farm,  and  Hatcher's  Run  they  won  for  themselves 
immortal  glory.  On  May  24,  1864,  Gen.  Fitzhugh  Lee,  then  in  the  prime  of  youth 
ful  vigor,  at  the  head  of  4,000  dismounted  Confederate  cavalry,  attacked  Wilson's 
Wharf,  defended  by  two  negro  regiments  under  Gen.  Wild,  but  the  chivalry  of  the 
South  was  compelled  to  retire  precipitously  before  the  desperate  counter  charges 
of  the  negroes. 

A  government  that  would  withhold  its  protection  from  such  men 
and  such  of  its  defenders  would  be  unworthy  fighting  for.  It  cannot 
for  a  moment  be  admitted  that  our  government  was  wrong  in  the 
stand  it  took  upon  this  issue.  It  would  have  been  a  dastardly  betrayal 
of  its  duty  to  defenders  of  the  Union  to  have  yielded  its  position  and 
conceded  to  the  rebel  government  the  right  to  treat  our  officers  as 
felons  and  enslave  our  soldiers.  It  is  cowardly  and  atrocious  at  this 
day  to  attribute  blame  to  our  government  for  the  wanton  cruelties  to 
prisoners  at  Andersonville,  in  its  stand  taken  with  reference  to  col 
ored  troops  and  their  officers,  the  justice  and  humanity  of  which  no 
one  not  blinded  by  hatred  and  prejudice  can  gainsay. 

But  this  was  not  the  only  ground  on  which  our  government  justified 
its  action,  though  in  itself  all-sufficient.  Exchanges  were  proceeding 
without  serious  interruption,  although,  as  the  rebel  commissioner, 
Ould,  said  in  March,  1863,  they  were  sending  to  us  miserable  wretches 
and  receiving  some  of  the  best  material  he  ever  saw.  The  facts  are 
very  clearly  stated  in  a  report  made  to  the  secretary  of  war  by  Gen 
eral  Hitchcock,  our  commissioner  of  exchange.  His  statement  of  the 
case  will  be  received  with  that  confidence  in  its  truth  and  fairness 
which  his  high  rank,  his  known  uprightness  of  character,  his  devotion 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  451 

to  the  cause  of  the  Union,  and  his  familiarity  with  the  subject  must 
inspire.  His  report  to  the  secretary  of  war  covers  the  whole  ground, 
and  is  a  most  convincing  vindication  of  the  course  taken  by  our  gov 
ernment,  and  is  a  complete  defense  of  General  Grant's  attitude  in 
dealing  with  the  subject  of  exchange,  and  should  be  carefully  read.1 

SUSPENSION    OF    THE    CARTEL — REASONS    THEREFOR. 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  D.  C.,  November  22,  1865, 
HON.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War. 

SIR:  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  statement  as  my  general  report 
for  the  current  year  on  the  subject  of  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war;  in  doing 
which  I  find  it  necessary  to  revert  to  some  facts  of  a  precedent  date  in  order  that 
the  subject  may  be  better  understood. 

At  an  early  period  of  the  Rebellion  a  cartel  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners  was 
agreed  upon  in  conformity  with  the  authority  of  the  president,  as  communicated 
to  General  Dix  by  the  secretary  of  war  in  the  following  despatch,  which  contains 
on  its  face  an  important  limitation,  carefully  guarding  against  any  recognition  of 
the  rebel  government,  the  object  having  expressly  in  view  the  humane  purpose  of 
extending  relief  to  prisoners  of  war: 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON  CITY,  July  12,  1862. 
MAJ.-GEN.  JOHN  A.  Dix,  Fort  Monroe. 

The  president  directs  me  to  say  that  he  authorizes  you  to  negotiate  a  general 
exchange  of  prisoners  with  the  enemy. 

You  will  take  immediate  measures  for  that  purpose,  observing  proper  caution 
against  any  recognition  of  the  rebel  government  and  confining  the  negotiation  to 
the  subject  of  exchange.  The  cartel  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain 
has  been  considered  a  proper  regulation  as  to  the  relative  exchange  value  of 
prisoners.  EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War. 

The  agreement,  signed  by  General  Dix  on  the  part  of  the  government,  and 
General  Hill  on  the  part  of  the  rebels,  was  duly  announced  in  public  orders  by 
authority  dated  war  department,  adjutant-general's  office,  Washington,  September 
25,  1862,  a  copy  of  which  is  hereunto  annexed. 

So  long  as  the  cartel  for  exchange  of  prisoners  was  respected  in  the  South  it 
was  faithfully  observed  by  the  government,  and  there  is  no  doubt  that  its  faithful 
execution  would  have  been  continued  by  the  government  until  the  end  of  the  war, 
unless  properly  revoked  by  competent  authority,  if  the  rebel  authorities  had  not 
most  distinctly  violated  its  terms,  under  circumstances,  indeed,  of  great  aggra 
vation. 

The  first  indication  on  the  part  of  the  rebels  of  a  disposition  to  disregard  the 
cartel  became  public  through  a  message  by  Jefferson  Davis  to  the  rebel  congress, 
in  which,  after  alluding  to  the  proclamation  of  the  president  announcing  emancipa 
tion,  he  makes  use  of  the  following  language:  "I  shall,  unless  in  your  wisdom  you 
deem  some  other  course  more  expedient,  deliver  to  the  several  state  authorities, 
all  commissioned  officers  of  the  United  States  that  may  hereafter  be  captured  by 
our  forces  in  any  of  the  states  embraced  in  the  proclamation,  that  they  may  be.- 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  8,  series  2,  p.  799. 


452  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

dealt  with  in  accordance  with  the  laws  of  those  states  providing  for  the  punish 
ment  of  criminals  engaged  in  inciting  servile  insurrection."  1 

This  announcement  of  Mr.  Davis  was  made  January  12,  1863,  and  received  the 
modified  approval  of  the  rebel  congress,  as  shown  in  the  following  sections  of  an 
act  approved  May  1,  1863,  to  wit :  2 

See.  4.  That  every  white  person,  being  a  commissioned  officer,  or  acting  as 
such,  who,  during  the  present  war,  shall  command  negroes  or  mulattoes  in  arms 
against  the  Confederate  States,  or  who  shall  arm,  train,  organize,  or  prepare 
negroes  or  mulattoes  for  military  service  against  the  Confederate  States,  or  who 
shall  voluntarily  aid  negroes  or  mulattoes  in  any  military  enterprise,  attack,  or 
conflict  in  such  service,  shall  be  deemed  as  inciting  servile  insurrection,  and  shall, 
if  captured,  be  put  to  death,  or  be  otherwise  punished  at  the  discretion  of  the 
court. 

Sec.  5.  Every  person,  being  a  commissioned  officer  or  acting  as  such  in  the 
service  of  the  enemy,  who  shall  during  the  present  war  excite,  attempt  to  excite, 
or  cause  to  be  excited,  a  servile  insurrection,  or  who  shall  incite,  or  cause  to  be 
incited,  a  slave  to  rebel,  shall,  if  captured,  be  put  to  death,  or  be  otherwise  pun 
ished  at  the  discretion  of  the  court. 

Sec.  7.  All  negroes  and  mulattoes  who  shall  be  engaged  in  war  or  be  taken  in 
arms  against  the  Confederate  States,  or  shall  give  aid  or  comfort  to  the  enemies 
of  the  Confederate  States,  shall  when  captured  in  the  Confederate  States,  be  de 
livered  to  the  authorities  of  the  state  or  states  in  which  they  shall  be  captured, 
to  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  present  or  future  laws  of  such  state  or  states.  3 

When  the  message  just  referred  to  became  known  to  the  president,  he  saw  at 
once  the  necessity  of  meeting  it,  and  gave  instructions  to  retain  such  rebel  officers 
as  might  be  captured,  in  order  to  be  in  a  position  to  check  the  rebel  government 
and  restrain  the  execution  of  its  avowed  purpose,  in  violation  of  the  cartel. 

This  proceeding,  initiated  by  the  rebel  government  in  violation  of  the  cartel, 
ultimated  in  the  cessation  of  exchanges,  which,  as  the  history  of  the  matter  shows, 
became  unavoidable,  and  was  entirely  due  to  the  rebel  government. 

Coincident  with  the  proceedings  with  regard  to  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war, 
the  rebels  inaugurated  a  system  of  seizing  unoffending  citizens  of  the  United 
States  and  subjecting  them  to  maltreatment,  in  various  ways,  in  order  to  effect  a 
particular  object,  which  became  apparent  when  a  demand  was  made  for  their 
release.  For  this  purpose  quite  a  number  of  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  were  carried 
into  captivity  by  General  Lee  when  he  penetrated  into  that  state  in  1863. 

When  a  demand  was  made  for  the  release  of  this  class  of  prisoners  it  was  met 
by  a  most  positive  declaration  that  no  citizen  prisoner  in  rebel  hands  should  be 
released  unless  the  government  would  enter  into  an  agreement  with  the  rebel 
authorities  not  to  arrest  any  one  on  account  of  his  opinions  or  on  account  of  his 
sympathy  with  the  rebel  cause;  and  this  declaration  was  repeated  again  and  again 
by  the  rebel  authorities  whenever  the  government  demanded  the  release  or  exchange 
of  said  citizen  prisoners. 

It  will  require  but  the  slightest  glance  at  this  subject  to  convince  any  one  of 
the  utter  impossibility  of  acquiescing  in  the  demand  of  the  rebel  authorities  as  a 
prerequisite  to  the  release  of  the  citizens  thus  held  in  bondage.  Such  an  agree- 

1  The  state  laws  made  such  offense  a  felony  with  a  felon's  punishment. 

2  Joint  resolution.     See  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  5,  series  2,  p.  940. 

3  The  rebel  congress  attached  the  death  penalty  for  the  alleged  crime  of  commanding  negro 
troops  in  aid  of  the  suppression  of  the  Rebellion. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PEISONEES.  453 

ment  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  would  have  been  a  virtual  acknowledgment 
of  the  independence  of  the  rebel  government,  and  would  have  foreclosed  all  pro 
ceedings  of  the  United  States  against  all  persons  whomsoever,  engaged  in  the 
crime  of  treason  and  rebellion.  It  was  absolutely  impossible  to  acquiesce  in  the 
demand  of  the  South  on  that  point,  and  this  is  the  reason  why  this  class  of  pris 
oners  was  beyond  the  reach  of  the  government,  except  through  the  power  of  its 
armies,  which  finally  settled  the  entire  question  by  putting  an  end  to  the  entire 
Rebellion  itself. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  cessation  of  exchanges  the  rebels  held  a  few 
prisoners  of  war  over  and  above  the  number  of  rebels  held  by  the  government,  but 
the  capture  of  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hudson  threw  the  balance  largely  the  other 
way;  and,  as  the  prisoners  captured  by  General  Grant  and  General  Banks  were  left 
in  the  South  on  parole,  the  rebel  authorities  determined  to  make  use  of  them,  not 
merely  in  violation  of  the  cartel,  but  in  open  contempt  of  the  laws  of  war.  They 
first  ordered  that  body  of  men  to  be  assembled  at  a  place  called  Enterprise,  in 
Mississippi,  on  pretense  of  facilitating  measures  for  their  supplies,  but  in  reality 
for  the  different  purpose,  as  we  are  now  compelled  to  believe,  of  throwing  them 
into  the  rebel  ranks  to  meet  the  anticipated  conflict  which,  it  was  seen,  was  near 
at  hand  in  East  Tennessee,  and  which  accordingly  took  place  at  the  memorable 
battles  of  Chickamauga  and  Chattanooga;  in  which  battles  many  of  the  captured 
prisoners,  paroled  in  the  South  by  Generals  Grant  and  Banks,  took  part  without 
having  been  duly  exchanged,  although  the  rebel  authorities  made  an  ex  parte 
declaration  of  exchange  in  their  'favor  without  proper  authority,  which  was  pro 
tested  against  by  the  United  States. 

It  must  be  understood  that  the  rebels  might  at  any  time  have  resumed  the 
system  of  exchange  agreed  upon  in  the  cartel  by  receding  from  the  assumed  right 
of  disposing  of  captured  Union  officers  as  required  in  the  act  passed  by  the  rebel 
congress,  before  alluded  to,  and  agreeing  to  the  exchange  of  colored  troops;  but 
they  would  never  agree  to  acknowledge  the  right  of  colored  troops  to  treatment 
due  to  prisoners  of  war;  and  as  the  government  of  the  United  States  had  exercised 
the  right  of  employing  colored  troops  as  a  part  of  the  force  against  the  rebels, 
their  claim  to  such  protection  as  the  government  could  give  was  one  which  did  not 
admit  of  discussion. 

When  the  rebels  discovered  that  the  suspension  of  exchanges  was  operating 
against  them  they  resorted  to  the  horrible  expedient  of  subjecting  the  prisoners 
they  held  to  starvation  and  exposure  to  the  elements,  without  the  protection  of 
quarters  or  tents,  after  first  robbing  them  of  their  money  and  most  of  their  cloth 
ing,  and  without  regard  to  seasons  or  their  inclemencies,  in  the  hope  of  forcing 
the  government  into  a  system  of  exchanges  which  should  have  the  effect  not  only  of 
leaving  in  their  hands  all  the  colored  prisoners  they  had  taken,  but  of  throwing 
into  their  ranks  the  entire  body  of  prisoners  held  by  the  Federal  power,  then 
greatly  in  excess  over  the  prisoners  held  by  the  rebels.  1  This  fact  is  proved  by  the 
declarations  of  the  Eichmond  papers  at  the  time  when  a  few  exchanges  were  made, 
that  the  rebel  agent,  Colonel  Quid,  had  not  sent  over  the  lines  the  number  of  pris 
oners  equivalent  to  those  received,  but  only  a  proportionate  number,  the  ratio  being 

1  Andersonville  and  its  horrors  justify  the  view  thus  taken  of  the  treatment  given  Union 
prisoners. 


454  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

determined  by  Colonel  Ould,  in  view  of  the  number  of  prisoners  held  in  the  South 
against  those  held  in  the  North,  the  claim  to  hold  in  reserve  the  colored  prisoners 
in  the  South  having  never  been  abandoned.  This  fact  was  further  established  by 
the  official  records  of  the  commissary-general  of  prisoners,  by  which  it  appeared 
that,  after  sending  several  boatloads  of  exchanged  prisoners  each  way,  the  rebels 
were  constantly  falling  in  debt.  Upon  observing  this  fact,  and  noticing  the 
publications  in  Richmond,  I  called  upon  the  commissary-general  of  prisoners  for  a 
tabular  statement  of  the  result,  and  the  statement  showed  an  indebtedness  in  our 
favor  of  over  500  men,  which  statement  was  handed  to  the  secretary  of  war,  who 
thereupon  directed  an  order  to  General  Grant  to  assume  the  entire  control  of  the 
matter  of  exchanges,  with  authority  to  give  such  orders  as  he  might  think  proper 
on  the  subject.  General  Grant  at  once  reverted  to  first  principles,  and  directed 
that  Colonel  Ould  or  the  rebel  authorities  should  be  notified  that  colored  troops 
should  be  treated  as  prisoners  of  war  when  captured;  and,  as  the  rebels  were  not 
willing  to  accede  to  this  requirement,  no  further  exchanges  were  made. 

Upon  the  receipt  at  the  war  department  of  the  first  intelligence  of  the  inhuman 
treatment  to  which  our  prisoners  were  subjected  at  Richmond,*  the  secretary  of 
war,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  gave  instructions  to  our  agent  of  exchange 
at  Fort  Monroe  to  send  forward  supplies  from  the  public  stores  for  their  relief, 
and  large  quantities  of  provisions  and  clothing  were  accordingly  sent  for  dis 
tribution  among  the  prisoners,  and  every  possible  effort  was  made  to  afford  that 
sort  of  relief,  even  at  the  hazard  of  large  portions  of  the  supplies  being  wasted, 
or,  what  was  worse,  misappropriated  to  the  benefit  of  our  enemies,  who,  it  soon 
appeared,  made  use  of  these  supplies  for  their  own  advantage,  leaving  our 
prisoners  still  to  suffer.2  But  even  this  did  not  destroy  the  hope  of  the  secretary 
that  some  portion  of  the  supplies  would,  at  least,  be  permitted  to  reach  its  des 
tination,  and  the  orders  to  send  that  relief  were  left  in  force  until  the  rebels 
themselves,  shamed,  perhaps,  by  the  scandalous  state  of  things,  then  likely  to 
become  historical,  refused  to  receive  any  further  supplies  through  the  agents  of 
the  government. 

In  the  mean  time  the  sympathies  of  friends  in  the  North  were  naturally  awakened, 
and  large  quantities  of  supplies  of.  all  kinds  were  sent  to  Fort  Monroe,  whence 
they  were  forwarded  for  the  relief  of  the  prisoners  at  Richmond;  but  the  moment 
they  passed  beyond  the  control  of  our  agents  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  most 
unprincipled  and  shameless  scoundrels  that  ever  disgraced  humanity.  It  is  in 
proof  that  large  quantities  of  supplies  furnished  by  the  benevolence  of  the  North 
for  the  relief  of  suffering  humanity  in  Southern  prisons  were  piled  up  in  sight 
of  the  objects  for  whose  relief  the  supplies  were  sent,  but  beyond  the  line  of  the 
prison  guards;  and  while  the  prisoners  were  thus  in  sight  of  their  own  boxes 
they  were  not  only  forbidden  to  touch  them  but  compelled  to  witness  depredations 
upon  them  by  the  guards  themselves,  who  feasted  upon  their  contents,  leaving 
the  victims  of  war  a  prey  to  that  merciless  barbarism  which  will  make  one  of 
the  darkest  pages  in  the  history  of  a  rebellion  which  will  itself  remain  an  aston 
ishment  to  all  posterity  for  its  almost  causeless  existence. 

Many  have  supposed  that  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  government  to  afford  relief 
to  the  prisoners  in  the  South  by  a  resort  to  retaliatory  treatment  of  rebel  prisoners 

1  This  was  in  1863,  and  before  Andersonville  Prison  was  created. 

2  This  was  true  at  Andersonville. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  455 

in  the  North.  It  is  difficult  to  meet  a  suggestion  of  this  kind  by  an  appeal  to 
the  instincts  of  civilized  humanity,  because  the  mere  suggestion  supposes  the 
absence  of  those  instincts,  and  implies  a  willingness  to  see  the  public  sentiment 
degraded  into  barbarism,  which  would  have  put  the  nation  itself  on  the  footing 
of  savages,  whose  only  excuse  for  their  barbarity  is  their  ignorance  and  their 
exclusion  from  the  civilized  world.  The  day  must  come  when  every  true  American 
will  be  proud  of  the  reflection  that  the  government  was  strong  enough  to  crush 
the  Rebellion  without  losing  the  smallest  element  of  its  humanity  or  its  dignity, 
and  stands  before  the  world  unimpeached  in  its  true  honor  and  glory. 

It  may  be  observed  that  no  one  imagined,  prospectively,  the  horrors  that  came 
to  light  at  Andersonville,  the  full  enormity  of  which  only  became  known  at  the 
close  of  the  military  events  which  ended  the  war.  Had  they  been  known  when  at 
their  worst  the  government  would  have  had  the  choice  of  but  three  measures: 
First,  the  rebel  prisoners  might  have  been  sent  South,  we  to  receive  in  return 
such  white  prisoners  as  they  might  have  held,  leaving  the  colored  troops  to  their 
fate;  second,  a  resort  to  retaliatory  measures;  or  lastly,  for  the  country  to  wage 
war  with  increased  zeal  to  bring  it  to  a  legitimate  end.  No  man  can  doubt  which 
of  these  plans  the  Northern  people  would  have  approved  if  submitted  to  them, 
and  the  government  only  assumed  to  represent  the  people  in  the  question.i 

It  ought  to  be  mentioned  here,  as  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  moral  sublime, 
that  among  the  many  memorials,  some  of  them  very  numerously  signed,  which 
reached  the  war  department,  praying  for  relief  to  Federal  prisoners  suffering  in 
the  South,  in  nearly  all  of  them 'there  was  an  express  protest  against  a  resort  to 
retaliation.  And  what  was  the  real  effect  of  the  barbarity  upon  the  prisoners  in 
the  South?  Certainly  it  was  most  deplorable  and  shocking  upon  individuals  for 
the  time  being;  but  no  one  whose  moral  eyes  are  open  can  fail  to  see  that  it 
became  in  many  ways  a  signal  step,  under  the  guidance  of  Providence,  for  bring 
ing  the  rebel  cause  to  destruction.  It  strengthened  the  feeling  in  the  North  in 
favor  of  warlike  and  determined  measures  against  the  Rebellion;  it  sent  thousands 
into  the  army  who  took  the  field  resolutely  determined  to  punish  the  authors  of 
a  great  crime  against  humanity.  The  enemy  might  almost  literally  have  felt 
that  it  is  "a  terrible  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God." 

An  erroneous  opinion  appears  to  have  been  circulated,  more  or  less  widely,  with 
regard  to  the  number  of  colored  Federal  troops  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the 
enemy,  which  makes  it  important  to  state  that  the  actual  number  thus  exposed 
to  injurious  treatment  was  very  much  greater  than  has  been  commonly  supposed. 
This  will  sufficiently  appear  from  the  fact  that,  on  the  21st  of  January,  1865, 
Lieut.  O.  O.  Poppleton,  adjutant  of  the  lllth  U.  S.  Colored  Infantry,  addressed  a 
letter,  dated  at  Nashville,  Tenn.,  to  Major-General  Butler,  in  the  following  words, 
to  wit: 

I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  herewith  a  copy  of  a  Mobile  paper  (rebel)  contain 
ing,  over  the  signature  of  D.  H.  Maury,  Major-General,  C.  S.  Army,  the  names  of 
569  soldiers  belonging  to  the  One  hundred  and  sixth,  One  hundred  and  tenth, 
and  One  hundred  and  eleventh  Regiments  of  U.  S.  Colored  Infantry,  who  were 
taken  prisoners  by  a  force  of  the  enemy  under  Ma j. -Gen.  N.  B.  Forrest  at  Athens 

1  After  having  read  this  scathing  indictment  of  the  rebel  authorities  and  this  exposure  of 
their  perfidious  conduct,  can  the  reader  view  with  complacency  the  attempt  to  charge  upon 
General  Grant  the  responsibility  for  the  sufferings  at  Andersonville? 


456  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

and  Sulphur  Branch  Trestle,  Ala.,  on  the  24th  and  25th  of  September,  1864,  and 
placed  at  work  on  the  defenses  of  Mobile,  Ala.,  by  order  of  the  rebel  authorities. 
Lieut.  William  T.  Lewis,  adjutant  One  hundred  and  tenth  U.  S.  Colored  In 
fantry  has  a  paper  of  later  date  than  this,  containing  the  names  of  nearly  300 
more  soldiers  of  the  same  command  also  at  work  on  the  defenses  of  Mobile. 

This  is  an  official  report  from  the  adjutant  of  the  One  hundred  and  eleventh 
Kegiment  Colored  Infantry,  showing  that  there  were  then,  in  January,  1865,  at 
work  on  the  fortifications  about  Mobile  569  colored  soldiers  belonging  to  three 
regiments  only;  and  a  reference  is  made  to  another  paper  as  being  at  that  time 
in  the  hands  of  another  officer,  an  adjutant  also  of  one  of  those  regiments,  em 
bracing  the  names  of  "nearly  300  more  soldiers  of  the  same  command,"  making 
in  all  over  800  colored  soldiers  of  the  United  States  army  at  work  under  rebel 
officers  on  the  fortifications  around  Mobile  alone. 

When  the  government  determined  to  employ  colored  troops  in  its  armies  the 
principle  was  recognized  that  they  were  entitled  to  protection;  and  accordingly 
it  was  claimed  that  the  class  of  troops  referred  to  should  receive  such  treatment 
from  the  army  as  was  due  to  other  troops  employed  in  the  defense  of  the  govern 
ment.  The  assertion  of  this  principle  did  not  depend  upon  the  number  of  colored 
troops  who  might  at  any  time  be  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  Every  consideration 
of  honor  and  humanity  required  the  assertion  of  this  principle  as  due  to  the  troops 
employed  in  the  service  of  the  government;  and  accordingly,  in  various  communi 
cations,  when  the  subject  required  it,  the  government  agents  connected  with  the 
duties  of  exchange  of  prisoners  invariably  set  forward  the  principle.  But  this 
did  not  prevent  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  man  for  man  and  officer  for  officer; 
the  difficulty  on  this  subject  was  due,  first,  to  the  message  of  Mr.  Davis  to  the 
rebel  congress,  already  referred  to,  declaring  his  purpose  to  deliver  to  Southern 
state  authorities  such  white  Union  officers  as  might  be  captured  for  trial  under 
state  laws  unknown  alike  to  the  laws  of  Congress  and  to  the  laws  of  war,  as 
also  stated  above,  in  the  fact  the  rebel  authorities  released  from  the  obliga 
tions  of  their  parole  a  number  of  rebel  prisoners  and  placed  them  in  their  ranks 
without  exchange. 

During  the  brief  period  prior  to  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  the  rebels  held  more 
prisoners  of  war  than  the  government ;  but  after  the-  date  of  that  event  the  case 
was  reversed,  and  from  that  time  forward  the  government  made  every  effort  to 
obtain  exchanges — man  for  man  and  officer  for  officer — but  without  avail,  the 
rebel  authorities  persistently  resisting  applications  for  exchange  unless  the  gov 
ernment  would  release  all  rebel  prisoners,  after  they  had  openly  violated  the 
cartel  themselves,  claiming  that  the  government  should  deliver  to  them  all  rebel 
prisoners,  while  they  on  their  part  declared  their  purpose  of  withholding  from 
exchange  such  colored  prisoners  as  they  might  have  in  their  possession. 

It  is  important  to  observe  here  that  while  this  controversy  was  pending  we 
actually  held  in  prison  depots  in  the  North  about  70,000  prisoners  of  war,  over 
and  above  which  we  had  a  just  and  valid  claim  for  more  than  30,000  men  who 
had  been  captured  and  paroled  in  the  South,  chiefly  at  Vicksburg  and  Port  Hud 
son,  and  who  had  never  been  properly  exchanged;  making  in  all  at  least  100,000 
men  whom  the  rebel  authorities  wished  to  draw  from  us  in  exchange  for  about 
40,000  of  the  white  troops  of  the  United  States,  the  effect  of  which  would  have 
been  to  throw  into  the  army  of  General  Lee  an  effective  force  of  about  60,000  or 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PEISONEES.  457 

70,000  men,  in  fine  health  and  able  in  all  respects  to  be  put  immediately  into  the 
field  against  General  Grant's  army,  or  with  which  General  Lee  might  have  obtained 
a  disposable  force  of  some  50,000  or  more  men  for  the  purpose  of  entering  the 
states  of  the  North,  and  thereby  possibly  compelling  General  Grant  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Eichmond  or  expose  the  Northern  states  to  devastation  by  the  enemy.  1 

It  was  the  desire  of  the  rebel  agent  of  exchange  to  avoid  making  special  ex 
changes,  in  the  hope  of  drawing  from  us  the  whole  of  the  rebel  prisoners  of  war 
we  held  in  return  for  inferior  numbers  held  by  the  enemy.  To  accomplish  that 
object  the  rebel  commissioner  or  agent  of  exchange  not  only  declined  to  make 
exchanges  on  equal  terms  in  any  considerable  number,  but  refused  to  make  special 
exchanges,  except  under  extraordinary  influences  brought  to  bear  by  the  friends 
of  interested  parties;  and  in  repeated  instances  the  rebel  agent  took  care  to  indorse 
upon  special  applications  the  express  declaration  that  he  neither  made  nor  coun 
tenanced  such  applications. 

In  consequence  of  this  state  of  things,  and  while  there  was  a  hope  of  effecting 
general  exchanges,  only  a  few  applications  of  a  special  character  were  forwarded 
over  the  lines;  but  when  it  became  apparent  that  a  general  exchange  could  not  be 
effected  I  received  your  instructions  to  forward  all  special  applications  for  ex 
change,  in  order,  as  you  explained  the  purpose  at  the  time,  to  afford  every  possible 
opportunity  to  extend  relief  to  as  many  individuals  as  might  have  the  good  fortune 
to  secure  Southern  influences  for  that  object;  and  great  numbers  of  such  applica 
tions  were  sent  over  the  lines,  most  of  which,  however,  were  never  heard  from 
afterward. 

Another  fact  I  beg  to  state  in  connection  with  this  subject,  as  a  further  illus 
tration  of  the  efforts  of  the  department  to  extend  relief  to  Federal  officers  and 
soldiers  imprisoned  South,  to  wit:  The  rebel  authorities  resorted  to  the  system 
of  placing  individuals  in  close  confinement,  in  alleged  retaliation  for  what  on 
our  side  was  but  the  legitimate  operation  of  the  laws  of  war  in  the  punishment 
of  spies  and  other  offenders  against  those  laws.  In  the  endeavor  to  afford  relief 
in  a  particular  case  of  this  kind  the  rebel  agent  seized  the  opportunity  of  pro 
posing  the  mutual  release  and  exchange  of  all  prisoners  in  close  confinement, 
although  at  that  time  we  had  no  rebel  prisoners  thus  confined  except  by  due  course 
of  law.  This  proposition  was  manifestly  unfair,  and  a  recovered  letter  from  the 
rebel  agent  has  shown  that  he  knew  it  was  so.  Nevertheless,  the  proposition  was 
accepted  by  your  orders,  and  although  it  effected  the  release  of  some  criminals 
belonging  to  the  rebel  army,  it  carried  relief  to  a  number  of  Federal  officers  and 
soldiers  in  the  South,  who  thus  obtained  liberation,  the  concession  on  your  part 
having  had  in  view  the  relief  it  promised,  and  to  some  extent,  effected,  in  favor 
of  a  few  of  our  officers  and  soldiers. 

The  recovered  letter  alluded  to  was  dated  at  City  Point,  March  17,  1863,  and 
addressed  to  Brigadier-General  Winder,  in  the  following  words: 

SIR:  A  flag  of  truce  boat  has  arrived  with  350  political  prisoners,  General 
Barrow  and  several  other  prominent  men  amongst  them.  I  wish  you  to  send  me  at 
4  o'clock  Wednesday  morning  all  the  military  prisoners  (except  officers)  and  all 
the  political  prisoners  you  have.  If  any  of  the  political  prisoners  have  on  hand 
proof  enough  to  convict  them  of  being  spies,  or  having  committed  other  offenses 

1  Does  not  General  Hitchcock  make  perfectly  clear  that  the  course  our  government  pursued 
was  the  only  one  consistent  with  national  honor  and  the  plainest  principles  of  justice? 


458  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

which  should  subject  them  to  punishment,  so  state  opposite  their  names.  Also, 
state  whether  you  think,  under  all  circumstances,  they  should  be  released.  The 
arrangement  I  have  made  works  largely  in  our  favor.  We  get  rid  of  a  set  of 
miserable  wretches  and  receive  some  of  the  best  material  I  ever  saw.  Tell  Cap 
tain  Turner  to  put  down  on  the  list  of  political  prisoners  the  names  of  Edward 
G.  Eggling  and  Eugenia  Hammermister.  The  president  is  anxious  they  should 
get  off.  They  are  here  now.  This,  of  course,  is  between  ourselves.  If  you  have 
any  female  political  prisoner  whom  you  can  send  off  safely  to  keep  her  company 
I  would  [like]  you  to  send  her.  Two  hundred  and  odd  more  political  prisoners  are 
on  their  way.  I  would  be  more  full  in  my  communication  if  I  had  time. 

Yours  truly, 

Eo.  OULD,  Agent  of  Exchanged 

It  should  be  noticed  in  this  report  that  when  the  subject  of  exchange  became 
embarrassing,  because  of  the  unwillingness  of  the  enemy  to  exchange  man  for 
man,  he  demanding  all  of  the  rebel  prisoners  we  held  in  exchange  for  the  white 
prisoners  held  by  him,  Major-General  Halleck,  by  the  direction  of  the  secretary 
of  war,  made  an  effort  to  obtain  exchanges  on  equal  terms.  For  this  purpose  he 
sent  a  flag  of  truce  to  General  Lee,  then  in  force  on  the  Eapidan,  and  proposed 
that  species  of  exchange;  but  General  Lee  declined  to  act  upon  the  proposition, 
and  answered,  evidently  in  accordance  with  instructions  from  Eichmond,  that 
the  subject  of  exchange  was  in  the  hands  of  a  commissioner  and  he  preferred  to 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it. 

As  a  further  effort  to  obtain  this  class  of  exchanges  the  secretary  authorized 
various  commanders,  distant  from  Washington,  to  open  communications  with  the 
enemy,  and  to  effect  exchanges  whenever  they  could  be  made  on  equal  terms. 
In  the  midst  of  these  difficulties  I  was  painfully  impressed  with  the  impossibility 
of  effecting  exchanges  on  equal  terms  with  Judge  Ould;  and  having  understood 
that  General  Butler  was  of  the  opinion  that,  if  empowered  to  do  so,  he  could 
make  exchanges,  I  addressed  a  note  to  the  secretary  of  war  and  proposed  to 
withdraw  from  the  position  of  commissioner  of  exchange  in  favor  of  any  officer 
who  could  accomplish  so  desirable  a  result;  upon  which,  however,  the  secretary 
did  not  see  fit  to  make  an  order.  A  few  days  after  this  I  was  sent  for  from  the 
war  office,  where  I  found  the  secretary  in  conversation  with  General  Halleck  on 
the  subject  of  exchanges.  The  secretary  then  informed  me  that  General  Butler 
had  expressed  the  opinion  above  stated,  and  that  several  members  of  Congress 
had  expressed  a  similar  opinion  with  regard  to  General  Butler's  ability  to  effect 
exchanges,  if  empowered  to  do  so.  I  at  once  said  to  the  secretary,  "If  General 
Butler  is  of  opinion  that  he  can  make  exchanges,  I  think,  sir,  you  had  better  let 
him  try."  He  then  said  that  it  was  his  wish  that  I  should  go  to  Fort  Monroe 
and  confer  upon  General  Butler  the  requisite  power  by  his  authority,  and  he 
thereupon  wrote,  in  the  presence  of  General  Halleck  and  myself,  the  following 
order : 

WAR  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  December  16,  1863. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  HITCHCOCK,  Commissioner  of  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 

GENERAL:  You  will  proceed  immediately  to  Fort  Monroe  and  take  any  meas 
ures  that  may  be  practicable  for  the  release,  exchange,  or  relief  of  U.  S.  officers 
and  soldiers  held  as  prisoners  by  the  rebels. 

You  are  authorized  and  directed  to  confer  with  Major-General  Butler  on  the 
subject,  and  may  authorize  him,  as  special  agent,  commissioner,  or  otherwise,  to 

1  This  is  the  letter  I  discovered  and  introduced  at  the  trial. — N.  P.  C. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PEISONERS.  459 

procure  their  release  or  exchange  upon  any  just  terms  not  conflicting  with  prin 
ciples  on  which  the  department  has  heretofore  acted  in  reference  to  the  exchange 
of  colored  troops  and  their  officers,  and  not  surrendering  to  the  rebels  any  prisoners 
without  just  equivalents.  You  may,  if  you  deem  it  proper,  relieve  General 
Meredith  and  direct  him  to  report  to  the  Adjutant-General  for  orders. 

Yours  truly, 

EDWIN  M.  STANTON,  Secretary  of  War. 

Within  half  an  hour  after  the  writing  of  the  above  order  I  was  on  my  way 
to  Fort  Monroe,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  December  I  reported  to  General 
Butler.  After  stating  the  limitations  under  which  he  would  be  authorized  to  make 
exchanges  I  requested  him  to  prepare  instructions  for  himself,  giving  him  the 
authority  he  desired,  in  accordance  with  the  orders  of  the  secretary,  stating  that 
when  ready  I  would  sign  them  in  the  name  of  or  with  the  authority  of  the  secre 
tary.  In  two  or  three  hours  thereafter  I  called  again  upon  General  Butler  and  made 
the  instructions  he  had  prepared  official.  They  contained  the  following  para 
graphs  : 

You  are  hereby  instructed  not  to  make  any  exchange  which  shall  not  return  to 
you  man  for  man,  officer  for  officer,  of  equal  rank  with  those  paroled  and  sent 
forward  by  yourself,  regarding,  of  course,  for  motives  of  humanity  in  the  earlier 
exchanges,  those  officers  and  men  on  either  side  who  have  been  longest  confined. 

Colored  troops  and  their  officers  will  be  put  upon  an  equality  in  making  ex 
changes,  as  of  right,  with  other  troops. 

You  are  permitted,  in  conducting  the  exchange,  to  waive  for  the  present  the 
consideration  of  the  questions  of  parole  and  excess  now  pending  between  the 
Confederate  belligerent  authorities  and  this  government,  leaving  them  untouched 
as  they  stand  until  further  interchange  of  views  between  those  authorities  and 
yourself. 

The  above  instructions  to  General  Butler  will  show  precisely  the  animus  of  the 
secretary  of  war  on  the  subject  of  exchanges.  He  was  perfectly  willing  and 
anxious  to  make  exchanges,  man  for  man,  officer  for  officer,  and  gave,  as  must  be 
seen,  the  fullest  power  to  General  Butler  to  effect  those  exchanges.  General 
Butler  in  his  conversation  with  me  expressed  no  desire  to  have  any  other  instruc 
tions  or  powers  committed  to  him,  and  appeared  to  be  very  confident  of  his  ability 
to  accomplish  the  desired  result,  giving  me  in  detail  many  reasons  for  that  con 
fidence.  I  returned  to  the  city  of  Washington,  and  within  a  few  days  the  public 
prints  announced  General  Butler's  first  attempt  to  make  exchanges  and  the  result. 
General  Butler  sent  a  boatload  of  prisoners  under  a  flag  of  truce  to  City  Point, 
where  they  were  offered  for  a  like  number  of  Federal  troops.  It  appears  that 
when  this  was  reported  to  the  rebel  government  violent  indignation  was  expressed 
by  the  rebel  authorities  on  the  alleged  ground  that  General  Butler  was  an  outlaw 
by  the  proclamation  of  Mr.  Davis,  and  that  it  was  an  insult  to  employ  him  to 
accomplish  any  result  requiring  any  sort  of  intercourse  between  him  and  the 
rebel  authorities;  but  it  was  concluded  that,  inasmuch  as  a  certain  number  of 
their  troops  were  actually  within  their  lines  as  returned  prisoners  of  war,  they 
should  be  received,  and  a  like  number  of  Federal  prisoners  should  be  exchanged 
for  them;  but  notice  was  given  to  our  agent  that  no  more  prisoners  would  be 
received  in  that  manner,  and  it  was  reported  at  the  time  that  General  Butler  was 
informed  that  a  flag  of  truce  even  should  not  protect  him  within  the  rebel  lines. 

When  this  was  reported  in  Washington  the  president  himself,  in  the  presence 
of  the  secretary  of  war,  declined  to  give  any  order  on  the  subject,  unwilling  to 


460  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDERSON VILLE. 

concede  to  the  rebels  the  right  to  dictate  what  agents  this  government  should 
employ  in  its  public  business;  but  it  was  plain  to  be  seen  that  the  real  object  of 
the  rebel  authorities  was  to  avoid  making  equal  exchanges  of  man  for  man  and 
officer  for  officer,  their  purpose  being  to  deliver  to  us,  as  before  stated,  only  a 
proportionate  number  of  prisoners  held  by  them  as  against  those  held  by  us;  and 
because  General  Butler's  instructions  required  the  exchange  of  man  for  man, 
made  the  employment  of  General  Butler  in  the  business  of  exchange  the  pretext 
for  refusing  those  equal  exchanges.  This  was  evident,  because,  in  point  of  fact, 
General  Butler  did  not  personally  appear  in  the  business — that  is,  he  did  not 
accompany  the  flag  of  truce — and  if  there  had  been  any  disposition  on  the  part 
of  the  rebels  to  make  equal  exchanges  they  knew  those  exchanges  would  be  made 
through  the  agency  of  another  officer  and  not  personally  by  General  Butler;  and 
thus  the  real  purpose  of  the  rebels  becomes  manifest,  their  object  being  to  draw 
from  us  all  of  their  own  troops  in  our  hands,  giving  us  in  exchange  only  such 
white  troops  of  the  Federal  forces  as  they  might  hold. 

After  this  experiment  by  General  Butler  matters  remained  in  suspense  for 
some  time,  no  exchanges  being  made. 

At  length  two  Federal  officers  who  had  escaped  from  rebel  prisons  gave  me  their 
opinion,  in  this  city,  that  if  we  would  send  to  City  Point  for  exchange  a  body  of 
300,  400,  or  500  rebel  officers,  demanding  a  like  number  in  return,  the  feeling  in 
the  South,  they  believed,  would  be  such  that  the  rebel  authorities  would  not  dare 
to  refuse  the  exchange;  and  if  that  succeeded,  they  would  not  dare  thereafter  to 
refuse  to  exchange  private  soldiers.  I  thought  very  well  of  this  suggestion  and 
addressed  a  note  to  the  secretary  of  war,  communicating  it  and  recommending  its 
trial.  The  secretary  at  once  accepted  the  suggestion  and  directed  General  Canby, 
then  on  duty  in  the  war  office,  to  require  General  Butler  to  make  that  trial.  But 
General  Butler  thought  proper  to  send  a  mixed  boatload  of  officers  and  men. 

Here,  then,  was  another  effort  to  make  exchanges  on  equal  terms.  The  enemy 
accepted  the  prisoners  sent  over  the  lines  but  did  not  return  a  like  number.  This 
fact  was  publicly  stated  by  the  newspapers  at  Eichmond  and  was  confirmed  by 
official  reports  received  at  the  office  of  General  Hoffman,  the  commissary-general  of 
prisoners,  after  several  boatloads  had  passed.  When  the  purpose  of  the  rebel 
commissioner  became  apparent,  not  to  make  exchanges  man  for  man  but  only  in 
proportionate  numbers,  the  fact,  with,  the  evidence  for  it,  was  submitted  to  the 
secretary  of  war,  and  then  it  was,  as  stated  above,  that  General  Grant  was  in 
structed  to  take  the  subject  under  his  own  supervision,  with  the  result  already 
alluded  to. 

After  General  Butler  took  charge  of  the  duties  in  connection  with  the  exchange 
of  prisoners  I  was  not  officially  advised  of  his  proceedings,  because  he,  being  of 
senior  rank  to  myself,  made  no  reports  to  me;  but  in  August,  1864,  there  was 
published  in  the  journals  of  the  day  a  letter,  over  the  signature  of  General  Butler, 
of  the  highest  importance  in  connection  with  this  subject.  No  official  copy  was 
furnished  to  me  and  I  have  never  seen  the  letter  of  Judge  Ould  to  which  it  refers, 
the  authenticity  of  which,  however,  is  sufficiently  vouched  in  the  letter  of  General 
Butler,  which  commences,  addressed  to  Judge  Ould,  in  these  words: 

SIR:  Your  note  to  Major  Mulford,  assistant  agent  of  exchange,  under  date  of 
the  10th  of  August,  has  been  referred  to  me.  You  therein  state  that  Major  Mul 
ford  has  several  times  proposed  to  exchange  prisoners  respectively  held  by  the 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  461 

two  belligerents,  officer  for  officer  and  man  for  man;  and  that  the  offer  has  also 
been  made  by  other  officials  having  charge  of  matters  connected  with  the  exchange 
of  prisoners,  and  that  this  proposal  has  been  heretofore  declined  by  the  Confederate 
authorities.  That  you  now  consent  to  the  above  proposition  and  agree  to  deliver 
to  you  (Major  Mulford)  the  prisoners  held  in  captivity  by  the  Confederate  au 
thorities,  provided  you  agree  to  deliver  an  equal  number  of  officers  and  men. 

This  letter,  cited  by  General  Butler,  from  Colonel  Ould  shows  conclusively  by 
whom  the  proposition  for  an  equal  exchange  was  originally  made.  It  shows  also 
that  it  had  been  repeatedly  made  by  the  government  and  had  been  as  repeatedly 
refused  by  the  rebel  authorities. 

The  matter  had  been  placed  in  General  Butler's  hands,  and  he  answered  Judge 
Quid's  letter,  asking  some  preliminary  explanations,  which  I  believe  were  never 
made,  and  the  opportunity  of  a  final  action  upon  Judge  Quid's  letter  was  thus 
cut  off  by  himself.  *• 

The  reasons  that  induced  General  Butler's  action  may  no  doubt  be  seen,  in  part 
at  least,  in  the  letter  he  addressed  to  Judge  Ould,  which  was  published  in  the 
journals  of  the  day.  I  have  never  heard  that  the  matter  was  referred  to  the 
secretary  of  war,  and  have  never  understood  that  he  gave  any  order  in  the  premises. 

We  learn  from  General  Butler's  letter  that  Judge  Ould  did  not  reach  his  con 
clusion  in  reference  to  Major  Mulford's  proposition  until  a  period  of  eight 
months  had  elapsed. 

It  is  impossible  to  approach  the  subject  of  this  report  without  being  solemnly 
impressed  by  a  sense  of  the  horrors  inflicted  upon  the  prisoners  of  war  in  the 
South;  but  in  making  the  report  I  have  felt  imperatively  called  upon  to  confine 
myself  to  facts  connected  immediately  with  the  subject  of  exchanges,  leaving 
inferences  to  be  drawn  by  others.  I  attach  hereto  such  official  letters  and  tele 
graphic  despatches  as  have  either  originated  in  my  office  or  have  reached  me  as 
may  throw  light  upon  the  subject  of  this  report.  . 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

E.  A.  HITCHCOCK, 
Maj.  Gen.  of  Vols.  Commissioner  for  Exchange  of  Prisoners. 

On  October  20,  1863,  General  Halleck  at  Washington  wrote  General 
Grant,  then  at  Louisville,  Kentucky,  after  General  Rosecrans'  defeat 
at  Chicamauga  :l 

It  is  now  ascertained  that  the  greater  part  of  the  prisoners  paroled  by  you  at 
Vicksburg  (July  4th),  and  General  Banks  at  Port  Hudson,  were  illegally  and 
improperly  declared  exchanged,  and  forced  into  the  ranks  to  swell  the  rebel  num 
bers  at  Chickamauga.  This  outrageous  act,  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  of  the- 
cartel  entered  into  by  the  rebel  authorities,  and  all  sense  of  honor,  gives  us  a 
lesson  in  regard  to  the  character  of  the  enemy  with  whom  we  are  contending. 
He  neither  regards  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare,  nor  even  his  most  solemn 
engagements.  You  may,  therefore,  expect  to  meet  in  arms  thousands  of  unex- 
changed  prisoners  released  by  you  and  others  on  parole,  not  to  serve  again  until 
duly  exchanged. 


1  General  Sherman's  Memoirs. 


462  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

The  inscription  on  the  Wirz  monument,  giving  a  quotation  from 
General  Grant's  letter  of  August  18,  1864,  was  placed  there  for  the 
obvious  purpose  of  fixing  upon  him  the  responsibility  for  the  suffer 
ings  of  our  soldiers.  It  is  due  to  the  truth  of  history  and  to  General 
Grant's  memory  that  the  correspondence,  of  which  his  letter  forms 
a  part,  should  be  read.  It  will  thus  appear  that  General  Grant  was 
consistently  adhering  to  a  policy  which  would  not  only  have  been 
base  treachery  to  the  negro  troops  to  abandon,  but,  as  he  points  out, 
inhumanity  to  our  soldiers  in  the  field.  The  correspondence  is  as 
follows : 

CITY  POINT,  VA.,  August  18,  1864. 
MA'JOR-GENERAL  BUTLER,  Commanding,  etc. 

I  am  opposed  to  exchanges  being  made  until  the  whole  matter  is  put  on  a 
footing  giving  equal  advantages  to  us  with  those  given  to  the  enemy.  In  the 
mean  time  I  direct  that  no  flags  of  truce  be  sent  to  the  enemy  nor  any  arrangements 
or  agreements  entered  into  with  him  without  my  first  being  fully  advised  of  what 
is  being  done  and  yielding  my  consent  to  it. 

The  steamer  New  York  will  not  be  permitted  to  proceed  to  Aiken's  landing 
until  I  receive  a  report  of  the  full  object  of  the  mission  and  the  load  she  now  has 
on  board-  U.  S.  GRANT, 

Lieutenant-General.  1 

BUTLER'S  HEADQUARTERS,  August  18,  1864,  7  P.  M. 
LIEUTENANT-GENERAL  GRANT  : 

Telegram  received.  No  exchange  has  been  made  or  will  be  made  which  will  give 
the  enemy  any  advantage.  To  show  that  my  views  and  the  lieutenant-general's  are 
in  exact  accordance,  I  will  send  letter  written  to  General  Hitchcock  to-day  upon 
this  subject  with  the  indorsements  referred  to. 

I  have  exchanged  nobody  but  wounded  men  since  the  first  of  May,  except 
surgeons,  non-combatants,  and  a  few  cases  of  special  exchange.  A  full  report  will 
be  made  to  the  lieutenant-general  of  all  that  was  intended  to  be  done  in  the 
matter.  BENJ.  F.  BUTLER, 

Major-General,  Commissioner  of  Exchange. 

[Enclosure.] 
HDQRS.  DEPT.  OF  VIRGINIA  AND  NORTH  CAROLINA^ 

IN  THE  FIELD,  VA.,  August  18,  1864. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  HITCHCOCK, 

Commissioner  of  Prisoners,  Washington,  D.  C. 

GENERAL:  I  have  one  or  two  indorsements  from  you  which  say  in  substance  that 
"it  is  desirable  to  have  all  our  prisoners  exchanged."  I  agree  [to]  that  if  all 
means  all.  But  does  the  government  intend  to  abandon  the  colored  troops?  That  is 

1  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  7,  series  2,  p.  606.     General  Hitchcock's  report  shows  very  clearly 
why  it  would  have  been  inhumanity  to  our  soldiers  in  the  field  to  have  yielded  to  the  rebel 
demands. 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  7,  series  2,  p.  606. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PEISONEES.  463 

the  only  question  now  pending.  All  others  can  be  settled.  From  my  conversation 
with  the  lieutenant-general  he  does  not  deem  it  desirable  to  move  from  the  position 
taken  on  that  question.  I  will  again  call  the  subject  to  the  attention  of  Mr. 
Ould  and  obtain  an  interview  with  him  if  possible. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

BENJ.  F.  BUTLER, 
Major-General  and  Commissioner  of  Exchange. 

CITY  POINT,  VA.,  August  18,  1864. 
MAJOR-GENERAL  BUTLER,  Commanding,  etc. 

I  am  satisfied  that  the  object  of  your  interview  had  the  proper  sanction  and 
therefore  meets  with  my  entire  approval.  I  have  seen  from  Southern  papers  that 
a  system  of  retaliation  is  going  on  in  the  South  which  they  keep  from  us  and  which 
we  should  stop  in  some  way.  On  the  subject  of  exchange,  however,  I  differ  from 
General  Hitchcock.  It  is  hard  on  our  men  held  in  Southern  prisons  not  to  exchange 
them,  l)ut  it  is  humanity  to  those  left  in  the  ranks  to  fight  our  battles.  Every 
man  we  hold,  when  released  on  parole  or  otherwise,  becomes  an  active  soldier 
against  us  at  once  either  directly  or  indirectly.  If  we  commence  a  system  of 
exchange  which  liberates  all  prisoners  taken,  we  will  have  to  fight  on  until  the 
whole  South  is  exterminated.  If  we  hold  those  caught  they  amount  to  no  more 
than  dead  men.  At  this  particular  time  to  release  all  rebel  prisoners  North  would 
insure  Sherman's  defeat  and  would  compromise  our  safety  here. 

U.  S.  GRANT, 
Lieut enant- General. 1 

When  General  Hood  moved  up  the  Chattanooga  Valley  upon 
Resaca,  which  was  held  by  a  small  force  under  Colonel  Clark  R. 
Weaver,  he  sent  a  demand  for  surrender  October  12,  1864,  in  which 
he  stated  that  if  the  commander  yielded  without  resistance  "all  white 
officers  and  soldiers  will  be  paroled  in  a  few  days.  If  the  place  is  car 
ried  by  assault,  no  prisoners  will  be  taken."  In  the  face  of  the  "no 
quarter"  threat  of  General  Hood,  Colonel  Weaver  replied,  much  as 
General  Corse  had  done  shortly  before  at  Altoona:  "In  my  opinion 
I  can  hold  this  post.  If  you  want  it  come  and  take  it." 

This  incident  is  referred  to  as  illustrating  that  the  policy  not  to 
treat  negro  troops  or  their  officers  as  prisoners  of  war  was  then  in 
force. 

HEADQUARTERS  ARMIES  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES,  October  2,  1864.2 
GENERAL  B.  E.  LEE,  Commanding  Army  of  Northern  Virginia. 

GENERAL:  Your  letter  of  yesterday  proposing  to  exchange  prisoners  of  war 
belonging  to  the  armies  operating  in  Virginia  is  received.  I  could  not  of  a  right 
accept  your  proposition  further  than  to  exchange  those  prisoners  captured  within 

1  War   of   Rebellion,    vol.    7,    series   2,   pp.    606,    607.      Note. — The   inscription    on   the   Wirz 
monument  is  that  portion  of  General  Grant's  letter  marked  in  italics. 

2  War  of  Rebellion,  vol.  7,  series  2,  p.  909. 


464  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

the  last  three  days  and  who  have  not  yet  been  delivered  to  the  commissary-general 
of  prisoners.    Among  those  lost  by  the  armies  operating  against  Eichmond  were  a 
number  of  colored  troops.     Before  further  negotiations  are  had  upon  the  subject 
I  would  ask  if  you  propose  delivering  these  men  the  same  as  white  soldiers  ? 
Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

U.  S.  GRANT, 
Lieutenant-General. 

General  Lee  declined  to  decide  the  question,  and  the  Richmond 
authorities  adhered  to  their  refusal  to  treat  captured  negro  soldiers 
as  prisoners  of  war. 

Looking  back  upon  this  painful  controversy,  the  surviving  veterans 
of  the  Union  army,  as  well  as  all  fair-minded  persons  must  feel  that 
our  government  took  the  only  course  open  to  it  consistent  with  national 
honor  and  national  safety. 

Colonel  John  McElroy,  of  Washington  City,  editor  and  proprietor 
of  the  National  Tribune,  an  able  and  prolific  writer  of  Civil  War  sub 
jects,  was  a  prisoner  at  Anderson ville.  In  my  quest  for  information 
upon  certain  points,  I  sought  an  interview  with  him.  I  do  not  offer 
his  opinions  and  statements  of  fact  as  evidence,  but  coming  from  one 
so  well  informed,  and  himself  an  eye-witness  of  many  things  to  which 
his  attention  was  invited,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  commend  them  to  the 
careful  consideration  of  the  reader.  Those  who  know  Colonel  Mc 
Elroy  will  accept  his  statements  as  importing  verity. 

CHIPMAN. — Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  report  made  by  the  Confederate  Congress 
upon  the  treatment  of  prisoners — a  public  document  printed  by  the  Confederate 
government?  Mr.  Brooks,  past  department  commander,  told  me  last  night  that 
he  had  seen  such  a  report  and  had  once  had  it,  but  I  had  never  heard  of  it. 

McELROY. — The  only  things  that  I  know  were  the  report  made  by  the  inspector- 
general,  C.  S.  A.,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  grand  jury  of  Sumter  County,  Georgia. 

C. — Where  are  the  proceedings  of  that  grand  jury  to  be  found? 

McE. — I  do  not  know  where  to  find  them,  but  I  think  I  made  reference  to  it  in 
my  book  on  Andersonville  and  must  have  had  it  in  an  authoritative  form  at  that 
time. 

C. — You  were  about  to  tell  me  some  important  facts  that  I  should  not  overlook. 
Will  you  state  them? 

McE. — The  main  element  in  the  whole  consideration  of  the  prison  question  is  the 
fact  that  the  exchange  definitely  stopped  July  4,  1863.  Prior  to  that  time  there 
had  been  a  cartel  in  operation  by  which  prisoners  were  to  be  paroled  and  reported 
to  their  respective  sides.  This  cartel  was  abused  in  ways  that  any  one  can  see  it 
would  be,  and  finally  modified  to  an  agreement  that  all  captures  should  be  reduced 
to  possession  and  delivered  to  the  respective  authorities  at  City  Point  or  Vicksburg. 
After  the  capture  of  Vicksburg  ar^  Port  Hudson,  General  Pemberton  applied  to 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  465 

General  Grant  for  a  guard  to  take  the  prisoners  outside  his  lines  and  deliver  them 
to  the  Confederate  authorities.  General  Grant  refused  this  from  reasons  of  good 
policy,  the  strongest  being  his  belief  that  as  a  large  portion  of  Pemberton's  forces 
had  been  drawn  from  the  country  which  was  now  in  our  possession,  if  these  men 
were  turned  loose  they  would  go  back  home  and  take  no  further  part  in  the  war. 
In  fact,  General  Grant  furnished  transportation  to  all  those  who  wished  to  go  back 
to  their  homes. 

C. — Well,  then,  what  Pemberton  was  seeking  to  bring  about  was  to  have  his 
soldiers  return  to  the  army  and  not  return  to  their  homes? 

McE. — Yes.  We  all  know  that  where  the  rebel  armies  advanced  they  con 
scripted  every  able-bodied  man  and  put  him  into  the  ranks.  This  was  the 
recognized  policy  of  the  Southern  Confederacy  and  the  real  reason  of  many  of 
their  forward  movements.  Naturally,  these  men,  if  they  could  escape  and  go 
back  home,  living  under  the  protection  of  the  Union  army  would  remain  out  of 
the  Confederacy.  At  the  battle  of  Gettysburg  Lee  captured  a  great  mass  of 
Union  prisoners  and  made  a  proposition  to  Meade  to  exchange  them,  but  Meade 
pointed  out  this  clause  in  the  cartel  compelling  the  reduction  to  possession,  and 
then  properly  refused  to  receive  them,  they  not  having  been  reduced  to  possession 
since  Lee  was  at  least  one  hundred  miles  from  his  own  lines.  A  great  many  of 
the  prisoners — in  fact  the  great  body  of  them — understood  this  clearly  and 
refused  to  accept  the  paroles  which  were  offered  them.  There  is  a  statement  that 
General  Couch,  then  commanding  the  district  of  the  Susquehanna,  not  understand 
ing  the  situation,  did  accept  the  paroles  of  a  number  of  the  Pennsylvania  militia. 
There  had  come  in  at  the  same  time  the  question  of  the  colored  troops  to  com 
plicate  the  situation.  Immediately  upon  the  formal  announcement  of  the  policy 
of  the  government  to  accept  negro  troops  the  so-called  Confederate  government 
had  responded  with  a  law  that  the  enlisted  men  among  the  colored  troops  who 
were  captured  should  be  returned  to  their  lawful  owners,  and  if  these  could  not 
be  found  they  should  be  sold  at  auction,  while  their  white  officers  should  be 
turned  over  to  their  several  states  to  be  dealt  with  according  to  the  laws  punishing 
those  who  incite  servile  insurrection.  In  one  notable  instance,  that  of  Milliken's 
Bend,  a  number  of  captured  officers  were  formally  hanged,  in  terrorem,  in  front 
of  General  Dick  Taylor's  army  at  Richmond,  Louisiana,  which  paraded  to  witness 
the  execution.  These  officers  were  in  command  of  colored  troops.  You  will  find 
in  the  war  records  that  General  Grant  addressed  a  note  to  General  Dick  Taylor 
asking  if  this  were  true.  Taylor  denied  it,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  had  been 
witnessed  by  the  entire  division  and  the  deaths  of  the  officers  who  were  so  executed. 
This  may  be  found  in  the  Rebellion  records  under  proper  index.  You  will  find  in 
the  "Volunteer  Army  Register"  for  1865  (part  8,  p.  152),  published  from  the 
adjutant-general's  office,  the  following  note  in  the  casualties  of  the  5th  U.  S. 
Colored  Heavy  Artillery:  "Capt.  Corydon  Heath,  taken  prisoner  June  7,  1863, 
and  murdered  by  the  enemy  at  or  near  Monroe,  La.,  June  — ,  1863."  Possibly 
Captain  Wm.  A.  Skillen,  Sidney,  Ohio,  if  alive,  can  furnish  some  facts  relative 
to  this. 

C. — Did  that  policy  with  regard  to  exchange  continue  as  it  stood  at  that 
period? 


MONUMENT  ERECTED  BY  THE  STATE  OF  MAINE. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  467 

McE. — Our  government  insisted  that  all  the  men  who  wore  its  uniform  and  bore 
its  commissions  should  be  treated  alike  as  prisoners  of  war,  and  consequently  those 
who  had  been  taken  in  the  operations  subsequent  to  July  1,  1863,  were  held  in 
possession  in  abeyance  to  this  discussion.  The  year  1863  ended  with  the  Con 
federates  having  about  15,000  Union  prisoners  in  their  possession,  and  this  gov 
ernment  having  about  25,000  Confederates  in  its  prisons.  A  still  further  com 
plication  arose  on  account  of  an  order  by  Robert  Ould,  the  Confederate  commis 
sioner  of  exchange,  declaring  all  those  prisoners  captured  at  Yicksburg  and  Port 
Hudson  to  be  duly  exchanged.  The  Confederate  secretary  of  war  then  ordered 
them  into  the  field,  and  it  is  estimated  that  10,000  of  them  fought  us  at  Chicka- 
mauga  when  Jefferson  Davis  made  the  crowning  effort  to  crush  Rosecrans. 

C. — Had  Ould  any  authority  for  making  this  declaration? 

McE. — The  only  basis  that  I  can  remember  for  this  action  was  the  alleged 
acceptance  of  paroles  of  Pennsylvania  militia  by  General  Couch.  I  should  have 
said  that  in  the  cartel  as  modified  there  was  a  provision  for  exchange  of  man  for 
man  and  the  parole  of  the  surplus.  This  question  of  surplus  immediately  began  to 
be  of  interest  from  the  preponderance  of  prisoners  in  our  hands  and  with  Davis 
and  Ould,  insisting  that  they  would  not  exchange  man  for  man  unless  the  surplus 
in  our  hands  was  paroled.  My  remembrance  is  that  on  February  11,  1864,  General 
B.  F.  Butler,  who  had  been  appointed  to  the  command  of  the  department  of 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  and  became  ex-officio  commissioner  of  exchange, 
owing  to  City  Point  being  in  his  department,  wrote  a  letter  in  which  he  said: 
"For  the  sake  of  humanity  let  us  return  these  men  to  their  homes.  Leaving  the 
questions  in  dispute  in  abeyance,  I  will  send  up  to-day  500  prisoners  for  which 
you  can  return  a  like  number,  and  this  can  continue  until  all  these  men  are 
returned  to  their  homes."  My  remembrance  is  that  perhaps  two  or  three  squads 
of  500  each  were  so  exchanged,  when  Davis  interposed  with  this  demand  that  the 
surplus  be  paroled.  As  the  operations  which  began  on  both  fronts  May  4,  1864, 
advanced,  the  disparity  in  the  number  of  prisoners  reduced  to  possession  on  both 
sides  increased  daily  in  favor  of  the  government.  According  to  the  letter  sent  to 
the  House  of  Representatives  by  Secretary  Stanton,  enclosing  one  from  Major- 
General  Hitchcock,  then  commissioner  of  exchange,  we  had  by  that  time  accumu 
lated  220,000  rebels  in  our  prisons,  while  they  had  127,000  of  us.  This  must  have 
been  in  February  or  March  of  1865.  This  disparity  bears  upon  the  question  of 
paroling  the  surplus.  This  great  disparity  in  our  favor  made  Grant,  who  I  am 
convinced  stood  firmly  all  the  time  for  an  exchange  of  man  for  man,  determined 
against  the  paroling  of  the  surplus,  which  would  put  at  least  100,000  fresh,  well- 
fed,  well-rested  troops  in  front  of  his  army  or  that  of  Sherman,  and  he  very 
properly  said  that  hard  as  the  lot  of  us  prisoners  was  it  was  much  better  that  we 
should  suffer  than  to  have  such  a  prolongation  of  the  war  as  would  result.  This, 
then,  will  explain  the  letter  which  Grant  wrote  in  August,  1864,  part  of  which  is 
inscribed  on  the  monument  to  Wirz. 

C. — What  was  the  relative  condition  of  the  prisoners,  federal  and  rebel,  as  to 
numbers  in  the  beginning  of  1864  f 

McE. — My  remembrance  from  statements  which  I  saw  in  the  public  press  is  that 
the  year  1863  ended  with  the  Confederates  having  15,000  Union  soldiers  in  prison, 
while  the  government  had  25,000  Confederate  soldiers.  According  to  the  report 


468  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

of  General  Hitchcock,  the  year  1864  ended  with  the  government  having  220,000 
Confederate  prisoners,  while  the  Confederates  had  127,000  Union  soldiers  in  prison. 

C. — Andersonville  was  established  February  24,  1864.  I  wish  you  would  give 
me  generally  a  statement  as  to  the  different  places  where  our  prisoners  were  at 
that  time  imprisoned,  and  approximately  the  number  at  the  different  prisons  when 
Andersonville  became  an  establishment. 

McE. — When  it  was  seen  that  there  was  to  be  a  prolonged  discussion  over  the 
question  of  exchange,  it  was  decided  to  be  too  dangerous  to  have  such  a  body  of 
prisoners  in  Kichmond,  -and  besides  there  was  a  difficulty  in  supplying  them,  as 
the  resources  of  the  Confederacy  were  taxed  to  supply  Lee's  army.  There  were  also 
small  bodies  of  prisoners  at  Danville,  Virginia,  and  Cahaba,  Alabama,  east  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  prisoners  west  of  the  Mississippi  were  collected  in  a  prison 
called  Camp  Ford,  at  Tyler,  Texas.  Therefore  it  was  decided  to  build  a  general 
prison  remote  from  our  armies,  and  Andersonville,  Georgia,  120  miles  south  of 
Atlanta,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  unsettled  piny  regions,  was  selected  as  a  general 
prison  in  which  all  of  the  prisoners  east  of  the  Mississippi  could  be  gathered. 
This  prison  was  opened  when  not  yet  finished,  February  24,  1864,  I  being  in  the 
first  squad  of  about  800  which  marched  in  from  Kichmond. 

C. — At  that  time  how  many  prisoners  were  in  Richmond? 

McE. — There  must  have  been  about  10,000.  When  we  entered  the  prison  we 
found  that  it  consisted  of  a  heavy  stockade  1,100  feet  north  and  south  and  700 
feet  east  and  west,  extending  on  both  sides  of  a  small  creek  which  ran  through 
a  swamp  in  the  center.  We  were  turned  in  there  without  shelter  or  cooking  utensils. 
Seeing  that  we  had  to  stay  there,  we  immediately  began  erecting  shelters.  Every 
thing  inside  of  the  prison  had  been  cut  off  except  two  pine  trees  in  the  southwest 
corner.  We  took  poles  from  the  rank  growth  in  the  swamp  and  bending  them  over 
like  a  wagon-cover  fastened  them  together  with  grapevines  and  briars  and  then 
thatched  them  with  the  long-leaf-pine  leaves,  which  we  took  from  the  trees  which 
had  been  cut  down.  This  was  an  exhibition  of  ingenuity  which  much  astonished 
the  Confederates.  The  records  show  that  March,  1864,  ended  with  4,603  prisoners 
inside  this  stockade.  This  may  be  found  in  the  American  Cyclopaedia  (vol.  1,  p. 
474).  We  got  along  tolerably  well,  though  this  ground  was  not  larger  than  what 
is  usually  taken  for  the  camp  of  a  full  regiment  of  infantry,  of  1,000  men.  The 
end  of  April  saw  this  number  increased  to  9,577.  The  operations  on  both  fronts 
began  May  4,  1864,  and  by  the  end  of  the  month  there  had  been  gathered  into  the 
prison  18,454. 

C.. — You  mean  the  operations  in  the  Wilderness? 

McE. — I  mean  the  operations  in  the  Wilderness  and  the  advance  on  Atlanta. 
The  end  of  June  saw  26,867  there.  There  was  then  not  room  enough  to  lie  down, 
and  the  Confederate  authorities  increased  the  prison  by  a  stockade  enclosing 
about  seven  acres  more  on  the  north  side  of  the  creek.  The  original  area  had 
been  estimated  at  thirteen  acres,  and  it  was  now  increased  to  twenty-odd  acres.  This 
was  reduced,  however,  by  a  dead-line  twenty  feet  from  the  stockade  running 
around  the  whole  interior  of  the  stockade.  By  the  end  of  July  there  were  31,678 
in  the  prison,  and  at  the  end  of  August  there  were  31,693.  I  think  the  record 
for  August  is  too  low.  We  were  divided  into  squads  of  ninety,  three  squads  to  a 
detachment,  which  were  numbered  consecutively.  These  detachments  were  kept 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  469 

full.  One  day,  through  curiosity,  I  counted  137  sergeants  coming  up  to  draw 
rations  for  their  detachments.  This  would  show  36,990.  Atlanta  fell  September 
1st,  and  brought  our  armies  into  such  close  proximity  that  it  was  necessary  to 
remove  the  prisoners.  There  had  been  some  efforts  made  by  the  cavalry  of  Sher 
man's  army  to  reach  and  release  us  before  Atlanta  fell.  The  dispersion  of  the 
prisoners  began  September  7th,  I  going  out  with  the  first  squad  to  Savannah.  It 
is  my  impression  that  probably  8,000  or  10,000  were  sent  to  Savannah  in  Septem 
ber.  Everybody  who  was  able  to  walk  was  taken  out  of  the  prison  before  the 
middle  of  the  month,  and  September  ended  with  only  8,218  in  the  prison.  Those 
not  taken  to  Savannah  were  sent  to  Florence,  South  Carolina.  In  October  those 
of  us  at  Savannah  were  sent  to  a  new  stockade  built  near  Millen,  at  the  junction 
of  the  railroad  from  Augusta  to  Savannah  with  that  running  to  Macon,  where  we 
remained  until  some  time  in  November,  when  Sherman  having  begun  his  march 
the  prison  at  Millen  was  broken  up.  We  were  taken  back  to  Savannah,  and  some 
5,000  of  us  sent  down  the  coast  to  a  place  called  Blackshear.  There  1,000  of  us 
were  taken  out  and  paroled  and  sent  back  to  Savannah,  where  it  was  represented 
to  us  we  should  meet  our  ships  and  be  exchanged.  A  partial  exchange  had  been 
declared  of  10,000  sick.  As  Sherman  had  passed  on,  leaving  Andersonville  behind 
him,  the  three  or  four  thousand  at  Blackshear  were  taken  across  the  country  back 
to  Andersonville  and  remained  there  until  the  close  of  the  war.  The  squad  in 
which  I  was  was  taken  to  Charleston  and  thence  to  Florence,  where  we  found 
8,000  or  10,000  of  our  former  companions  in  Andersonville.  In  che  mean  time  the 
prisoners  who  were  being  taken  from  the  armies  in  Virginia  were  collected  at 
Salisbury.  Salisbury  had  been  maintained  as  a  prison  from  the  beginning  of  the 
war,  but  no  considerable  number  confined  there  until  late  in  1864.  Those  of  us 
in  Florence  remained  there  until  toward  the  close  of  the  war.  As  Sherman  ad 
vanced  a  large  portion  of  them  were  taken  out  of  Florence  and  sent  up  into 
North  Carolina,  but  there  was  no  safe  place  for  them  up  there,  and  all  were 
finally  delivered  to  our  authorities  at  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  after  the 
capture  of  that  place.  The  few  thousand  who  went  back  to  Andersonville  had 
their  number  augmented  somewhat  by  the  prisoners  captured  by  Hood,  and  were 
kept  there  until  the  17th  of  April,  1865,  when  the  last  of  them  were  sent  to  Florida 
and  reached  our  lines  in  front  of  Jacksonville. 

C. — On  several  of  the  monuments  erected  in  the  cemetery  is  inscribed  the  state 
ment  "Death  before  dishonor,"  apparently  the  sentiment  which  arose  in  the  prison 
times.  I  wish  you  would  explain  that. 

McE. — All  the  time  that  we  were  in  prison  there  were  Confederate  emissaries 
among  us  trying  to  incite  discontent  with  our  government  and  encouraging  the 
sending  of  delegations  to  Washington  demanding  our  exchange.  The  bulk  of  the 
prisoners  understood  the  situation  very  clearly  and  refused  to  join  in  these  demon 
strations  and  clubbed  severely  men  who  were  promoting  them. 

C. — There  is  to  be  found  in  the  Rebellion  records  a  paper  signed  by  a  large 
number  of  sergeants  of  squads  petitioning  the  government  and  setting  forth  the 
condition  there  to  some  extent,  which  was  carried  to  Washington  I  believe  by 
permission  of  the  rebel  authorities.  What  is  your  recollection  about  that?  Did 
it  represent  anything  like  the  universal  sentiment? 


470  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSON  VILLE. 

McE. — It  never  was  allowed  to  be  generally  known.  As  an  illustration  of  that, 
while  we  were  in  prison  at  Savannah,  the  rebels  came  into  the  stockade  and  had 
a  stand  erected  for  speaking.  When  the  stand  was  completed  a  shyster  from  New 
York,  a  very  despicable  fellow,  named  Pete  Myers,  got  up  on  the  stand  and 
began  a  harangue  to  the  effect  that  our  government  had  abandoned  us,  had  de 
nounced  us  as  "coffee-boilers"  and  "blackberry-pickers,"  and  he  proposed  that  we 
pass  a  resolution  to  the  effect  that  if  we  were  not  exchanged  within  thirty  days 
that  we  would  join  the  Confederate  army.  That  was  at  Savannah,  after  we  had 
left  Andersonville,  and  immediately  the  whole  camp  was  thrown  into  a  fever  of 
excitement,  and  had  it  not  been  for  the  Confederates  guarding  Myers  and  helping 
him  at  once  out  of  the  prison  he  would  have  been  beaten  to  death.  At  Millen, 
where  I  was  a  sergeant  of  a  squad,  an  order  came  in  for  us  to  make  out  a  list  of 
all  the  men  whose  terms  of  service  had  expired  and  who  had  been  born  abroad. 
Thinking  that  it  might  help  us  to  exchange  I  made  out  my  list,  making  every  man 
foreign  born.  The  next  thing  was  an  order  for  all  those  whose  names  appeared 
on  the  list  to  fall  in.  We  were  marched  outside  the  prison,  surrounded  by  a 
strong  guard,  when  a  man  on  a  stump  told  us  the  old  story  of  our  government 
having  abandoned  us;  that  we  had  done  our  duty  faithfully  to  it;  that  it  was 
apparent  to  all  of  us  that  the  Confederacy  was  about  to  succeed;  and  that  if  we 
would  join  its  ranks  we  would  receive  the  same  treatment  in  bounty  lands  and  other 
considerations  that  their  soldiers  were  to  get.  Before  he  had  finished  his  speech 
a  sergeant  named  Tom  Lynn  sprang  out  in  front  of  his  detachment  and  ordered 
it  to  about  face,  and  we  all  marched  back  into  the  prison.  I  remember  the  incident 
particularly,  as  the  rebels  were  determined  to  punish  us  for  it.  We  had  with 
incomprehensible  labor  split  off  slabs  and  made  shelters  for  ourselves.  The  guards 
followed  us  directly  into  the  prison,  drove  us  up  into  a  corner,  and  began  to 
destroy  these  shelters  which  we  had  erected.  The  feeling  was  very  bitter,  but  the 
comrades  stood  firm. 

C. — What  was  the  physical  condition  of  the  prisoners  when  they  left  Richmond? 

McE. — It  was  tolerably  fair.  Those  who  went  from  Belle  Isle  had  been  much 
reduced  by  the  scanty  fare  and  the  inclement  weather  there,  to  which  they  had 
been  exposed  without  shelter.  Those  of  us  who  had  been  in  the  buildings  in 
Richmond  were  in  better  condition. 

C. — It  is  stated  in  excuse  for  the  mortality  at  Andersonville,  that  the  prisoners 
when  brought  there  were  on  the  verge  of  death,  and  that  the  mortality  did  not 
result  from  their  treatment  at  Andersonville. 

McE. — In  reply  to  that  I  will  say  that  of  the  45,000  men  who  so  much  as  set 
foot  in  Andersonville,  in  round  numbers  14,000  died.  The  bulk  of  these  men  were 
active,  fit-for-duty  soldiers  who  had  been  taken  either  in  battle  or  on  picket  or  in 
some  other  active  service.  The  worst  part  of  Andersonville  lasted  only  about  four 
months.  That  is  from  the  time  of  the  great  crowd  coming  in  in  the  middle  of 
May  until  the  middle  of  September.  During  that  time,  one  out  of  four  of  these 
strong,  healthy,  present-for-duty  men  died,  without  taking  into  account  those  who 
were  broken  down  there  and  died  while  being  removed  to  other  prisons  or  in  those 
prisons.  My  remembrance  is  that  we  would  be  put  on  the  cars  and  ride  for  a  day 
or  night  and  when  we  got  off  every  car  would  have  men  who  had  died.  We  would 
camp  in  the  woods  or  some  place  and  move  on  leaving  dead  men  lying  all  around. 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  471 

Those  men  have  not  been  counted  in  the  record  of  the  mortality  of  Andersonville. 
I  notice  in  the  record  in  the  American  Cyclopaedia  that  149  died  of  gunshot 
wounds.  This  seems  to  me  a  great  understatement.  The  orders  were  very  stringent 
about  approaching  or  touching  the  dead-line.  The  only  water  that  came  into  the 
prison  was  from  the  creek  which  previously  passed  through  the  camps  of  the  five 
or  six  thousand  rebel  guards,  and  further  became  polluted  by  passage  through  the 
swamp  lying  in  the  center  of  the  prison.  It  seems  to  me  that  every  day,  and  some 
times  twice  during  the  day,  the  guards  would  kill  a  man  who  was  reaching  up 
under  the  dead-line  to  get  water  less  foul  than  that  below. 

C. — Colonel  Chandler  in  his  report  concerning  the  prison  management  says  that 
he  heard  no  complaint  as  to  the  want  of  good  drinking-water — that  he  inquired 
particularly  of  the  soldiers  if  they  had  plenty,  and  so  far  as  he  could  learn  there 
was  no  complaint. 

McE. — Those  of  us  of  the  older  prisoners  immediately  began  digging  wells, 
and  some  of  these  were  dug  down  as  deep  as  thirty  feet  in  the  clay,  and  we  used 
water  from  these  wells.  The  newer  prisoners  of  course  did  not  have  these  and  had 
to  drink  water  from  the  creek. 

C. — Can  you  explain  Providence  spring? 

McE. — I  do  not  know  anything  about  Providence  spring  of  my  own  knowledge. 
It  appeared  in  August.  In  the  early  part  of  that  month  I  had  made  an  effort 
to  escape,  and  being  barefoot  at  that  time  and  running  through  the  briars  in  the 
swamps,  had  hurt  my  feet  so  that  I  was  unable  to  get  around  as  I  had  formerly 
done,  and  I  remained  so  lame  that  on  September  7th,  when  we  went  out  of  the 
prison,  I  was  still  hobbling  along  with  a  stick.  The  spring  broke  out  while  I  was 
in  that  condition,  so  I  never  saw  it. 

C. — Some  criticism  is  made  of  the  findings  of  the  court  as  to  the  individual 
murders  committed  by  Wirz,  on  the  ground  that  names  of  parties  and  definite 
statements  as  to  dates  could  not  be  given,  and  it  is  urged  that  convictions  under 
such  circumstances  are  wholly  without  foundation.  What  explanation  can  you 
give  of  the  conditions  existing  there  that  would  make  it  probable  that  men  might 
be  killed  and  witnesses  who  saw  it  not  know  personally  the  person  who  was  killed? 

McE. — You  must  remember  that  here  were  30,000  or  more  men  gathered  from 
all  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  coming  in  sometimes  singly,  sometimes  in 
squads,  and  we  did  not  know  each  other  usually,  more  than  the  number  of  our 
regiments.  For  example,  they  all  knew  me  as  "Little  Illinoy,"  as  I  belonged  to  an 
Illinois  regiment.  We  were  all  in  there  in  absolute  barbarism.  All  that  we 
wanted  was  to  live  until  we  could  escape.  There  was  no  thought  of  records,  organ 
ization,  or  anything,  and  we  were  all  looking  forward  to  the  next  day  when  we 
might  either  escape  or  be  exchanged.  I  was  engaged  in  digging  tunnels  and  plan 
ning  escape  and  getting  what  rations  I  could,  and  such  things  as  that.  The  first 
man  that  I  knew  to  be  killed  there  was  a  poor  half-witted  German  who  we  called 
"Sigel."  This,  it  seems  to  me,  was  only  a  few  weeks  after  we  got  into  prison. 
Somebody  had  got  hold  of  some  biscuit  that  were  moldy  and  had  thrown  them 
under  the  dead-line.  Sigel  came  along  and  reached  under  the  dead-line  for  them 
and  was  killed.  I  remember  they  came  to  me  and  said,  "Let's  go  up  there  and 
look  up  that  fellow  that  killed  him.  We  may  meet  him  later." 


472  THE  TBAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

C. — Give  your  explanation  of  the  condition  of  things  that  led  up  to  the  trial 
and  execution  of  some  of  our  own  soldiers  by  their  comrades. 

McE. — While  we  were  in  Eichmond  there  were  a  number  of  acknowledged 
thieves,  criminals,  and  bounty- jumpers  who  had  deserted  to  the  rebel  army.  The 
rebels  did  not  want  them,  but  were  holding  them  there.  After  we  had  been  in 
Andersonville  a  few  days  they  brought  these  men  down  and  put  them  over  on  the 
south  side  of  the  creek  to  themselves,  and  they  immediately  began  preying  on  us. 
These  noted  thieves  stayed  in  a  little  bunch  by  themselves,  and  we  older  prisoners 
knew  them.  We  had  several  fights  with  them,  and  confined  ourselves  after  that  to 
taking  care  of  ourselves.  We  called  these  scoundrels  "Eaiders."  I  was  in  com 
mand  of  fifty  men  formed  for  our  own  protection  in  the  southwest  corner  of  the 
stockade.  Great  numbers  of  prisoners  would  come  in,  and  a  great  many  from  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  would  bring  in  blankets,  watches,  and  money,  and  these 
thieves  would  watch  for  them  and  rob  them.  I  have  known  them  to  kill  as  many 
as  three  of  our  men  in  one  of  these  fights.  The  great  mass  of  the  prisoners  could 
not  be  made  to  understand  that  it  was  only  a  small  body  that  was  doing  this 
robbing,  and  they  thought  that  we  were  all  thieves.  Finally  a  man  who  was 
commissary-sergeant  of  Company  M  of  my  regiment,  decided  to  put  them  down, 
and  got  Wirz's  permission.  At  this  time,  when  we  were  digging  tunnels  and  mak 
ing  other  efforts  to  escape,  Wirz  had  put  up  a  row  of  poles  around  the  inside  of 
the  stockade  and  issued  orders  that  any  assembly  of  more  than  100  men  passing 
these  poles  would  be  the  signal  for  the  artillery  opening  upon  them  without 
warning.  Sergeant  Key  got  him  to  allow  us  to  make  a  fight  against  these  men, 
and  assembled  us  to  the  number  of  about  500.  The  "Eaiders"  had  a  big  tent 
which  they  had  made  of  blankets  taken  from  the  other  prisoners,  and  on  the 
second  of  July  we  armed  ourselves  with  clubs  and  went  up  and  attacked  them. 
There  were  about  400  or  500  of  them,  and  we  arrested  about  125.  Wirz  agreed  to 
take  charge  of  these.  Then  Wirz  said  that  he  would  not  take  care  of  so  many, 
and  we  turned  back  all  but  a  few.  We  found  in  the  meanwhile  that  the  camp 
had  understood  what  we  were  doing  and  were  with  us,  and  when  these  men  that 
were  turned  back  came  in  they  had  to  run  the  gauntlet,  and  several  were  killed. 
I  remember  one  man  particularly  who  was  a  well-known  criminal.  The  fighting 
for  the  day  was  over,  and  I  had  gone  up  to  my  quarters  at  the  end  of  the  street 
on  the  north  side,  taking  no  part  in  the  gauntlet  running.  A  sailor,  one  of  the 
worst  of  the  criminals,  cut  his  way  through  the  gauntlet  and  started  up  the  street 
toward  me.  I  picked  up  my  club.  A  man  was  standing  there  holding  a  rail, 
and  just  as  the  sailor  came  in  front  of  him  he  dropped  the  rail  across  the  back  of 
his  neck  and  killed  him.  The  others  were  given  as  fair  a  trial  as  we  could  by  a 
court-martial  consisting  of  thirteen  sergeants  chosen  from  the  new  prisoners.  All 
the  men  accused  were  brought  before  this  court,  where  they  had  the  benefit  of 
counsel  and  were  confronted  by  the  witnesses  of  their  crimes.  The  decision  of  the 
court  was  that  six  should  be  hanged,  and  this  was  carried  out  by  us  on  the  llth  of 
July,  1864,  which  resulted  in  introducing  order  into  the  camp  and  terrorizing 
these  criminals,  who  had  before  held  the  camp  in  terror.  Wirz  simply  gave  us 
permission  to  carry  out  the  execution,  but  had  his  whole  garrison  under  arms  with 
the  artillery  turned  upon  us.  He  brought  the  condemned  in  to  us  and  told  us  that 
it  was  none  of  his  business;  that  we  had  tried  them  and  condemned  them  ourselves, 


THE  EXCHANGE  OF  PRISONERS.  473 

and  he  washed  his  hands  of  the  whole  affair.  Subsequent  developments  showed 
that  every  one  of  these  men  whom  we  had  hanged  had  a  long  record  of  criminality 
both  in  the  Confederate  army  and  in  our  own.  They  were  men  who  had  deserted 
back  and  forth  from  the  Confederate  army  to  the  Northern  army. 

The  men  merely  rotted  to  death  in  Andersonville.  We  got  nothing  to  eat  but 
corn  meal  without  salt,  and  no  meat.  The  men  literally  rotted  with  what  we 
called  "scurvy,"  and  what  is  now  known  as  pellagra,  due  to  insufficient  quantity 
of  one  kind  of  food.  The  record  of  the  rebel  surgeon-general  says  that  there  were 
10,000  men  at  one  time  in  there  dying  of  scurvy.  The  rebel  medical  department 
applied  to  the  rebel  secretary  of  war  for  a  commission  to  go  to  Andersonville  and 
study  the  effect  of  crowding  such  an  immense  number  of  men  together  without 
sufficient  food  in  such  foul  surroundings,  but  my  remembrance  is  mostly  of  scurvy. 
It  would  begin  usually  with  a  man's  ankles  stiffening  and  his  legs  swelling.  Then 
his  gums  would  protrude  beyond  his  lips,  his  teeth  would  drop  out,  ulcers  would 
appear  all  over  him,  and  he  would  simply  rot  to  death. 


CHAPTER   XVI. 

ANDEESONVILLE  CEMETERY  MADE  BEAUTIFUL — EXPEDITION  IN  SPRING  OF  1865  TO 
PROVIDE  FOR  ITS  PERMANENT  CARE — REPORT  OF  CAPTAIN  JAS.  M.  MOORE, 
U.  S.  A. — IMPORTANT  AND  INTERESTING  KEPORT  OF  CLARA  BARTON,  FOUNDER 
OF  THE  BED  CROSS  SOCIETY,  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PEOPLE — REPORT  OF  DORENCE 
ATWATER,  WHO  KEPT  THE  DEATH  E-EGISTEB,  TO  THE  RELATIVES  OF  THE 
MARTYRED  DEAD — INTERESTING  LETTER  OF  SUPERINTENDENT  OF  CEMETERY — 
INSCRIPTIONS  ON  STATE  MONUMENTS — PATRIOTIC  WORK  DONE  BY  WOMAN'S 
RELIEF  CORPS  AT  PRISON  PARK — A  PARTING  WORD  WITH  THE  READER  BY  THE 
AUTHOR — BILL  PENDING  IN  CONGRESS  TO  APPROPRIATE  MONEY  BY  GOVERN 
MENT  TO  ERECT  MONUMENT  TO  CONFEDERATE  NAVY — DISCUSSION  IN  UNITED 
STATES  SENATE — VIEWS  EXPRESSED  IN  PUBLIC  PRESS — DANGEROUS  STEP  FOR 
GOVERNMENT  TO  THUS  GIVE  OFFICIAL  SANCTION  TO  REBELLION  AND  TREASON. 

Peaceful  he  sleeps,  with  all  our  rights  adorn'd, 

Forever  honor'd  and  forever  mourn'd. — Illiad. 

And  here  were  men  (coequal  with  their  fate), 

Who  did  great  things,  unconscious  they  were  great. — Lowell. 

There  are  eighty-four  national  cemeteries  in  the  United  States  under 
the  supervision  of  the  quartermaster's  department  of  the  army,  in 
which  are  buried  350,000  soldiers. 

Not  all,  but  most  of  these  contain  the  bodies  of  soldier-patriots  who 
gave  up  their  lives  during  the  Civil  War  that  this  government  of  ours 
should  not  perish.  The  major  part  of  these  cemeteries  are  nearby 
or  on  the  battlefields  where  their  tenants  fell  in  defense  of  the  nation's 
flag  and  nation's  honor.  If  their  spirits  visit  the  scenes  of  their  valor 
and  could  speak  to  us,  would  they  name  a  spot  for  the  resting-place 
of  their  earthly  remains  of  more  glorious  memory  or  more  to  be  pre 
ferred  than  the  hallowed  ground  where  they  so  nobly  died?  We  may 
well  conceive,  too,  that  they  would  behold  with  pride  and  satisfaction 
the  loving  tenderness  with  which  the  nation  they  helped  to  save  is 
protecting,  beautifying,  and  making  forever  sacred  these  last  resting- 
places  of  its  patriotic  dead. 

The  spirits  of  the  thirteen  thousand  martyrs  at  Andersonville  Ceme 
tery  have  not  the  satisfaction  of  feeling  that  their  earthly  bodies  lie 
in  some  one  of  the  great  battlefields  where  in  life  they  bravely  fought, 
but  they  will  find  at  Andersonville  the  assurance  of  their  country's 
appreciation  for  their  sufferings  and  sacrifices.  All  that  art  and 
nature  can  do  to  dispel  the  gloom  and  sadness  which  hung  over  that 
valley  of  despair  in  1864,  and  to  brighten  and  make  attractive  the 
resting-place  of  these  heroes,  is  being  done  by  our  government;  and 
thanks  to  the  noble  efforts  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps,  auxiliary  of 


ANDEKSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  475 

the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  prison  grounds  and  ample  sur 
rounding  area  have  been  acquired  as  a  national  park,  and  by  these 
patriotic  women  conveyed  to  the  nation. 

More  than  ordinary  interest  attaches  to  these  grounds  and  I  find 
satisfaction  in  giving  such  illustrations  as  I  have  been  able  to  obtain 
showing  how  completely  the  scene  has  changed.  I  also  feel  quite  sure 
that  the  reader  will  be  glad  of  the  opportunity  to  read  the  reports  of 
an  expedition  promptly  sent  to  Andersonville  by  the  quartermaster- 
general,  upon  the  order  of  the  secretary  of  war,  to  take  possession  of 
the  cemetery  and  initiate  the  necessary  steps  for  its  permanent  im 
provement. 

This  expedition  was  under  the  direction  of  Captain  Jas.  M.  Moore, 
assistant  quartermaster  United  States  army,  with  whom  went  Miss 
Clara  Barton,  widely  known  for  her  Eed  Cross  work  of  mercy  and 
charity  during  the  Civil  War,  and  Dorence  Atwater,  who  had  been 
a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  and  had  kept  the  death  register.  Each  of 
these  made  a  report  of  more  than  ordinary  interest,  which  I  am  glad 
to  include  in  this  volume.  Captain  Moore's  report  is  an  official  docu 
ment  addressed  to  the  head  of  his  department.  Miss  Barton's  is  semi 
official,  but  is  addressed  to  the  people  of  the  United  States.  Dorence 
Atwater's  statement  is  rather  the  story  of  a  personal  experience,  which 
would  seem  incredible  as  exhibiting  a  species  of  arbitrary  power  by  our 
government  of  which  he  was  the  victim,  and  which  can  only  be  ac 
counted  for,  if  not  justified,  by  some  imperative  necessity  of  which 
we  can  now  but  speculate.  It  is  addressed  to  the  surviving  relatives 
of  the  martyred  dead  at  Andersonville. 

Miss  Barton's  account  of  the  expedition,  read  in  the  light  of  the 
testimony  found  in  this  volume,  shows  how  an  observant  and  sym 
pathetic  mind  can  discover  the  true  situation  by  a  priori  reasoning. 
She  saw  everywhere  effects  of  which  the  cause  could  unerringly  be 
traced. 

The  inscriptions  on  the  monuments  erected  by  state  authority  can 
not  fail  to  touch  the  hearts  of  all  who  read  them. 

REPORT  OF  THE  EXPEDITION  TO  ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  DURING  THE 
MONTHS  OF  JULY  AND  AUGUST,  1865. 

ASSISTANT  QUARTERMASTER'S  OFFICE,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C.,  September  20,  1865. 

GENERAL:  In  accordance  with  Special  Orders  No.  19,  quartermaster-general's 
office,  dated  June  30,  1865,  directing  me  to  proceed  to  Andersonville,  Georgia,  for 
the  purpose  of  marking  the  graves  of  Union  soldiers  for  future  identification, 
and  enclosing  the  cemetery,  I  have  the  honor  to  report  as  follows: 


(Inscription) 

LIZABETH  A.  TURNER 

Past  National  President  Woman's  Relief  Corps,  Auxiliary  to  the 

Grand  Army  of  the  Republic. 
Life  Chairman  Andersonville  Prison  Board. 

Died  at  Andersonville  April  27,  1907. 

Erected  by  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  to   Memoralize  Her 
Work  in  Hallowing  These  Grounds. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  477 

I  left  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  on  the  8th  of  July  last  for  Anderson- 
ville,  Georgia,  via  Savannah,  with  mechanics  and  material  for  the  purpose  above 
mentioned. 

On  my  arrival  at  Savannah,  I  ascertained  there  was  no  railroad  communication 
whatever  to  Andersonville — the  direct  road  to  Macon  being  broken,  and  that  from 
Augusta,  via  Atlanta,  also  in  the  same  condition.  I  endeavored  to  obtain  wagon 
transportation,  but  was  informed  by  the  general  commanding  the  department  of 
Georgia  that  a  sufficient  number  of  teams  could  not  be  had  in  the  state  to  haul 
one-half  my  stores;  and,  as  the  roads  were  bad,  and  the  distance  more  than  four 
hundred  miles,  I  abandoned  all  idea  of  attempting  a  route  through  a  country 
difficult  and  tedious  under  more  propitious  circumstances. 

The  prospect  of  reaching  Andersonville  at  this  time  was  by  no  means  favorable, 
and  nearly  one  week  had  elapsed  since  my  arrival  at  Savannah.  I  had  telegraphed 
to  Augusta,  Atlanta  and  Macon  almost  daily,  and  received  replies  that  the  railroads 
were  not  yet  completed. 

At  length,  on  the  morning  of  the  18th  of  July,  the  gratifying  telegram  from 
Augusta  was  received,  announcing  the  completion  of  the  Augusta  and  Macon  road 
to  Atlanta,  when  I  at  once  determined  to  procure  a  boat  and  proceed  to  Augusta 
by  the  Savannah  River. 

The  desired  boat  was  secured,  and  in  twenty-four  hours  after  the  receipt  of  the 
telegram  alluded  to,  I  was  on  my  way  with  men  and  material  for  Augusta.  On 
my  arrival  there  I  found  the  railroad  completed  to  Macon,  and  that  from  Macon 
to  Andersonville  having  never  been  broken,  experienced  little  difficulty  in  reaching 
my  destination,  where  I  arrived  July  25th  after  a  tiresome  trip,  occupying  six  days 
and  nights. 

At  Macon,  Major-General  Wilson  detailed  one  company  of  the  4th  U.  S. 
cavalry  and  one  from  the  137  regiment  U.  S.  colored  troops  to  assist  me.  A 
member  of  the  former  company  was  killed  on  the  5th  of  August,  at  a  station  named 
Montezuma,  on  the  Southwestern  railroad. 

The  rolling  stock  on  all  the  roads  over  which  I  traveled  is  in  a  miserable  con 
dition,  and  very  seldom  a  greater  rate  of  speed  was  attained  than  twelve  miles 
an  hour.  At  the  different  stations  along  the  route  the  object  of  the  expedition 
was  well  known,  and  not  infrequently  men  wearing  the  garb  of  rebel  soldiers 
would  enter  the  cars  and  discuss  the  treatment  of  our  prisoners  at  Andersonville; 
all  of  whom  candidly  admitted  it  was  shameful,  and  a  blot  on  the  escutcheon  of 
the  South  that  years  would  not  efface. 

While  encamped  at  Andersonville,  I  was  daily  visited  by  men  from  the  sur 
rounding  country,  and  had  an  opportunity  of  gleaning  their  feelings  towards  the 
government;  and  with  hardly  an  exception,  found  those  who  had  been  in  the  rebel 
army  penitent  and  more  kindly  disposed  than  those  who  had  never  taken  a  part, 
and  anxious  again  to  become  citizens  of  the  country  they  had  fought  to  destroy. 

On  the  morning  of  the  26th  of  July,  the  work  of  identifying  the  graves,  paint 
ing  and  lettering  of  head-boards,  laying  out  walks,  and  enclosing  the  cemetery 
was  commenced,  and  on  the  evening  of  August  16th  was  completed,  with  the  ex 
ceptions  hereafter  mentioned. 

The  dead  were  found  buried  in  trenches  on  a  site  selected  by  the  rebels,  about 
three  hundred  yards  from  the  stockade.  The  trenches  vary  in  length  from  fifty 


478  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

to  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards.  The  bodies  in  the  trenches  were  from  two  to  three 
feet  below  the  surface,  and  in  several  instances,  where  the  rain  had  washd  away 
the  earth,  but  a  few  inches.  Additional  earth  was,  however,  thrown  upon  the  graves, 
making  them  of  a  still  greater  depth.  So  close  were  they  buried,  without  coffins 
or  ordinary  clothing  to  cover  their  nakedness,  that  not  more  than  twelve  inches 
were  allowed  to  each  man;  indeed,  the  little  tablets  marking  their  resting-places, 
measuring  hardly  ten  inches  in  width,  almost  touch  each  other. 

United  States  soldiers,  while  prisoners  at  Andersonville,  had  been  detailed  to 
inter  their  companions,  and  by  a  simple  stake  at  the  head  of  each  grave,  which 
bore  a  number  corresponding  with  a  similar  numbered  name  upon  the  Anderson 
ville  hospital  record,  I  was  enabled  to  identify  and  mark  with  a  neat  tablet,  similar 
to  those  in  the  cemeteries  at  Washington,  the  number,  name,  rank,  regiment,  com 
pany,  and  date  of  death  of  twelve  thousand  four  hundred  and  sixty-one  graves, 
there  being  but  four  hundred  and  fifty-one  that  bore  the  sad  inscription  "Un 
known  U.  S.  Soldier." 

One  hundred  and  twenty  thousand  feet  of  pine  lumber  were  used  in  these  tablets 
alone. 

The  cemetery  contains  fifty  acres,  and  has  been  divided  by  one  main  avenue 
running  through  the  center,  and  subdivided  into  blocks  and  sections  in  such  a 
manner  that,  with  the  aid  of  the  record,  which  I  am  now  having  copied  for  the 
superintendent,  the  visitors  will  experience  no  difficulty  in  finding  any  grave. 

A  force  of  men  is  now  engaged  in  laying  out  walks  and  cleaning  the  cemetery 
of  stumps  and  stones,  preparatory  to  planting  trees  and  flowers. 

I  have  already  commenced  the  manufacture  of  brick,  and  will  have  a  sufficient 
number  by  the  first  of  October  to  pave  the  numerous  gutters  throughout  the 
cemetery;  the  clay  in  the  vicinity  of  the  stockade  being  well  adapted  to  the  purpose 
of  brick-making. 

Appropriate  inscriptions  are  placed  through  the  grounds,  and  I  have  endeavored, 
as  far  as  my  facilities  would  permit,  to  transfer  this  wild,  unmarked,  and 
unhonored  graveyard  into  a  fit  place  of  interment  for  the  nation's  gallant  dead. 
At  the  entrance  gate,  the  words  "National  Cemetery,  Andersonville,  Ga.,"  designate 
this  city  of  the  dead.  , 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  August,  at  sunrise,  the  stars  and  stripes  were 
hoisted  in  the  center  of  the  cemetery,  when  a  national  salute  was  fired,  and  several 
national  songs  sung  by  those  present. 

The  men  who  accompanied  me,  and  to  whom  I  am  indebted  for  early  completion 
of  my  mission,  worked  zealously  and  faithfully  from  early  in  the  morning  until 
late  at  night,  although  suffering  intensely  from  the  effects  of  the  sun.  Unacelim- 
ated  as  they  were,  one  after  another  was  taken  sick  with  the  fever  incident  to  this 
country,  and  in  a  brief  period  my  force  of  mechanics  was  considerably  lessened, 
obliging  me  to  obtain  others  from  the  residents  in  different  parts  of  the  state. 

"£ll  my  men,  however,  recovered,  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Eddy  Watts,  a 
letterer,  who  died  on  the  16th  of  July  of  typhoid  fever,  after  a  sickness  of  three 
weeks.  I  brought  his  body  back  with  me,  and  delivered  it  to  his  family  in  this 
city. 

Several  of  the  4th  United  States  cavalry,  detailed  by  General  Wilson,  died  of 
the  same  fever  shortly  after  joining  their  command  at  Macon. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  479 

Andersonville  is  situated  on  the  Southwestern  railroad,  sixty  miles  from  Macon. 
There  is  but  one  house  in  the  place,  except  those  erected  by  the  so-called  Con 
federate  government  as  hospitals,  officers'  quarters,  and  commissary  and  quarter 
masters'  buildings.  It  was  formerly  known  as  Anderson,  but  since  the  war  the 
"ville"  has  been  added. 

The  country  is  covered  mostly  with  pines  and  hemlocks,  and  the  soil  is  sandy, 
sterile  and  unfit  for  cultivation,  and  unlike  the  section  of  country  a  few  miles 
north  or  south  of  this  place,  where  the  soil  is  well  adapted  to  agricultural  purposes, 
and  cotton  as  well  as  corn  are  extensively  raised.  It  is  said  to  be  the  most  un 
healthy  part  of  Georgia,  and  was  probably  selected  as  a  depot  for  prisoners  on 
account  of  this  fact.  At  midday  the  thermometer  in  the  shade  frequently  reaches 
one  hundred  and  ten  degrees  and  in  the  sun  the  heat  is  almost  unbearable. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  sparsely-settled  locality  are,  with  few  exceptions,  of  the 
most  ignorant  class,  and  from  their  haggard  and  sallow  faces  the  effects  of  chills 
and  fever  are  distinctly  visible. 

The  noted  prison  pen  is  fifteen  hundred  and  forty  feet  long,  and  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  feet  wide,  and  contains  twenty-seven  acres.  The  dead-line  is  seventeen 
feet  from  the  stockade,  and  the  sentry  boxes  are  thirty  yards  apart.  The  inside 
stockade  is  eighteen  feet  high,  the  outer  one  twelve  feet,  and  the  distance  between 
the  two  is  one  hundred  and  twenty  feet. 

Nothing  has  been  destroyed;  as  our  exhausted,  emaciated,  and  enfeebled  soldiers 
left  it,  so  it  stands  to-day,  as  a  monument  to  an  inhumanity  unparalleled  in  the 
annals  of  war. 

How  men  could  survive  as  well  as  they  did  in  this  pen,  exposed  to  the  rays  of  an 
almost  tropical  sun  by  day  and  drenching  dews  by  night,  without  the  slightest 
covering,  is  wonderful. 

The  ground  is  filled  with  holes  where  they  burrowed  in  their  efforts  to  shield 
themselves  from  the  weather,  and  many  a  poor  fellow,  in  endeavoring  to  protect 
himself  in  this  manner,  was  smothered  by  the  earth  falling  in  upon  him. 

A  very  worthy  man  has  been  appointed  superintendent  of  the  grounds  and 
cemetery,  with  instructions  to  allow  no  buildings  or  structures  of  whatever  nature 
to  be  destroyed,  particularly  the  stockade  surrounding  the  prison  pen. 

The  stories  told  of  the  sufferings  of  our  men  while  prisoners  have  been  sub 
stantiated  by  hundreds,  and  the  skeptic  who  will  visit  Andersonville,  even  now, 
and  examine  the  stockade,  with  its  black,  oozy  mud,  the  cramped  and  wretched 
burrows,  the  dead-line  and  the  slaughter-house,  must  be  a  callous  observer,  indeed, 
if  he  is  not  convinced  that  the  miseries  depicted  of  this  pen  are  no  exaggerations. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  general,  very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 

[Signed]     JAMES  M.  MOORE, 
Captain  and  Assistant  Quartermaster,  U.  S.  Army. 

Brevet  Major-General  M.  C.  MEIGS, 

Quartermaster-General,  U.  S.  Army,  Washington,  D.  C. 


480  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

REPORT  BY  MISS  CLARA  BARTON. 

EEPORT  OF  AN  EXPEDITION  TO  ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  JULY,  1865,  FOR  THE  PUR 
POSE  OF  IDENTIFYING  THE  GRAVES  AND  ENCLOSING  THE  GROUNDS  OF  A  CEMETERY 
CREATED  THERE  DURING  THE  OCCUPANCY  OF  THAT  PLACE  AS  A  PRISON  FOR 
UNION  SOLDIERS  IN  EEBEL  HANDS. 

To  the  People  of  the  United  States  of  America: 

Having  by  an  official  invitation  been  placed  upon  an  expedition  to  Anderson- 
ville  for  the  purpose  of  identifying  and  marking  the  graves  of  the  dead  contained 
in  those  noted  prison  grounds,  it  is,  perhaps,  not  improper  that  I  make  some 
report  of  the  circumstances  which  induced  the  sending  of  such  an  expedition,  its 
work,  and  the  appearance,  condition  and  surroundings  of  that  interesting  spot, 
hallowed  alike  by  the  sufferings  of  the  martyred  dead  and  the  tears  and  prayers 
of  those  who  mourn  them. 

During  the  search  for  the  missing  men  of  the  United  States  army,  begun  in 
March,  1865,  under  the  sanction  of  our  late  lamented  President  Lincoln,  I  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  Dorence  Atwater,  of  Connecticut,  a  member  of  the  2nd  New 
York  Cavalry,  who  had  been  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville  and  Belle  Isle  twenty-two 
months,  and  charged  by  the  rebel  authorities  with  the  duty  of  keeping  the  death 
register  of  the  Union  prisoners  who  died  amid  the  nameless  cruelties  of  the  first 
named  prison. 

By  minute  inquiry  I  learned  from  Mr.  Atwater  the  method  adopted  in  the  burial 
of  the  dead,  and  by  carefully  comparing  his  account  with  a  draft  which  he  had 
made  of  the  grounds  appropriated  by  the  prison  authorities,  I  became  convinced 
of  the  possibility  of  identifying  the  graves  simply  by  comparing  the  numbered 
post  or  board  marking  each  man's  position  in  the  trench  in  which  he  was  buried 
with  the  corresponding  number  standing  against  this  name  upon  the  register  kept 
by  Mr.  Atwater,  which  he  informed  me  was  in  the  possession  of  the  war  department. 

Assured  by  the  intelligence  and  frankness  of  my  informant  of  the  entire  truth 
fulness  of  his  statements,  I  decided  to  impart  to  the  officers  of  the  government 
the  information  I  had  gained,  and  accordingly  brought  the  subject  to  the  attention 
of  General  Hoffman,  commissary-general  of  prisoners,  asking  that  a  party  or 
expedition  be  at  once  sent  to  Andersonville  for  the  purpose  of  identifying  and 
marking  the  graves  and  inclosing  the  grounds,  and  that  Dorence  Atwater,  with  his 
register,  accompany  the  same  as  the  proper  person  to  designate  and  identify.  The 
subject  appeared  to  have  not  only  been  unheard,  but  unthought  of,  and  from  the 
generally  prevailing  impression  that  no  care  had  been  taken  in  the  burial  of  our 
prisoners  the  idea  seemed  at  first  difficult  to  be  entertained,  but  the  same  facts 
which  had  served  to  convince  me  presented  themselves  favorably  to  the  good 
understanding  and  kind  heart  of  General  Hoffman,  who  took  immediate  steps  to 
lay  the  matter  before  the  honorable  secretary  of  war,  upon  whom,  at  his  request, 
I  called  the  following  day,  and  learned  from  him  that  he  had  heard  and  approved 
my  proposition,  and  decided  to  order  an  expedition  consisting  of  men  and  materials, 
under  charge  of  some  government  officer,  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  object  set 
forth  in  my  request,  and  invited  me  to  accompany  the  expedition  in  person,  which 
invitation  I  accepted. 


ANDEESONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  481 

Accordingly,  on  the  8th  of  July,  the  propeller  Virginia,  having  on  board  fencing 
material,  headboards,  the  prison  records,  forty  workmen,  clerks  and  letterers,  left 
Washington  for  Andersonville,  under  the  command  of  Captain  James  M.  Moore, 
assistant  quartermaster  U.  S.  army;  Dorence  Atwater  and  myself,  via  Savannah, 
Georgia,  arriving  at  the  latter  place  July  12th.  Having  waited  at  Savannah  seven 
days  and  then  resumed  the  journey  by  way  of  Augusta,  Atlanta  and  Macon,  the 
entire  party  reached  its  destination  in  safety  about  noon  on  the  25th  of  July. 

We  found  the  prison  grounds,  stockade,  hospital  sheds  and  the  various  minor 
structures  almost  in  the  same  condition  in  which  they  had  been  evacuated;  and 
care  is  taken  to  leave  those  historic  monuments  undisturbed  so  long  as  the  elements 
will  spare  them. 

There  is  not,  and  never  was,  any  town  or  village  at  this  place  except  what  grew 
out  of  its  military  occupation.  Andersonville  station,  on  the  railroad  from  Macon 
to  Eufala,  Alabama,  was  selected  as  a  depot  for  prisoners,  probably  on  account 
of  its  remoteness  and  possible  security,  and  the  prison  itself,  with  the  buildings 
which  sprang  up  around  it,  constituted  all  there  was  of  Andersonville. 

The  land  around  is  broken  and  undulating,  and  at  the  time  of  the  occupation  was 
covered  with  forests,  mostly  of  the  long-leafed  pine  common  to  the  uplands  of  the 
South.  The  bases  of  the  hills  are  lined  with  oozy  springs,  which  unite  to  form 
little  rivulets,  one  of  which  winds  sluggishly  through  each  of  the  intervening 
valleys. 

The  original  enclosure  of  nineteen  acres  was  made  in  the  unbroken  woods,  and 
the  timber  was  only  removed  as  it  was  wanted  for  the  necessity  of  the  prison. 
The  enclosure  was  marie  in  January,  1864,  and  enlarged  during  the  summer  to 
twenty-five  and  three-fourths  acres,  being  a  quadrangle  of  1295  by  865  feet.  The 
greatest  length  is  from  north  to  south,  the  ground  rising  from  the  middle  towards 
each  end  in  rather  a  steep,  rounded  hill,  the  northern  one  being  at  once  the  highest 
and  of  the  greatest  extent.  A  small  stream,  rising  from  springs  a  little  to  the 
westward,  flows  across  it  through  a  narrow  valley  filled  with  a  compost  washed 
down  by  the  rains.  The  enclosing  stockade  is  formed  of  pine  logs,  twenty  feet  in 
length,  and  about  eight  inches  in  diameter.  This  is  again  surrounded  by  two 
successive  and  precisely  similar  palisades — a  portion  of  the  last  of  which  is  gone. 
It  seems  never  to  have  been  completed.  The  two  inner  walls  remain  entire.  Within 
the  interior  space,  at  a  distance  of  about  seventeen  feet  from  the  stockade,  runs 
the  famous  dead-line,  marked  by  small  posts  set  in  the  ground,  and  a  slight  strip 
of  pine  boards  set  on  the  top  of  them.  The  gates,  of  which  there  are  two,, 
situated  on  the  west  side,  were  continuations  of  the  stockade,  inclosing  spaces  of 
thirty  feet  square,  more  or  less,  with  massive  doors  a,t  either  end.  They  were 
arranged  and  worked  on  the  principle  of  canal  locks.  Upon  the  inner  stockade 
were  fifty-two  sentry  boxes,  raised  above  the  tops  of  the  palisades  and  accessible 
by  ladders.  In  these  stood  fifty-two  guards  with  loaded  arms,  so  near  that  they 
could  converse  with  each  other.  In  addition  to  these,  seven  forts  mounted  with 
field  artillery  commanded  the  fatal  space  and  its  masses  of  perishing  men. 

Under  the  most  favorable  circumstances,  and  best  possible  management,  the 
supply  of  water  would  have  been  insufficient  for  half  the  number  of  men  who  had 
to  use  it.  The  existing  arrangements  must  have  aggravated  the  evil  to  the  utmost 
extent.  The  sole  establishments  for  cooking  and  baking  were  placed  on  the  bank 


(Inscription.) 

This  tablet  is  erected  in  commemoration  of  the  patriotic  work  of  the  Woman's  Relief 
Corps,  auxiliary  to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  in  the  preservation  and  improve 
ment  of  this  historic  site  comprising  87  acres,  of  which  72.5  acres  weie  acquired  in 
1896  by  deed  of  gift  from  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  of  Georgia  and  14.5  acres 
were  acquired  by  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  by  purchase  to  complete  the  tract.  The 
Woman's  Relief  Corps  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  Ohio  for  charitable  and 
patriotic  purposes  on  February  3,  1904,  by  the  following  named  women:  Sarah  D. 
Winans,  Jennie  F.  Wright,  Kate  B.  Sherwood,  Cora  Day  Young,  Mary  C.  Wentzel, 
Mary  M.  North,  Sarah  E.  Phillips,  Lizabeth  A.  Turner,  Clara  Barton  and  Allaseba  M. 
Bliss.  During  the  convention  held  in  1908  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  having  improved 
and  cared  for  those  grounds  at  its  own  expense  formally  tendered  the  land  to  the 
United  States  Government  as  a  gift  free  of  all  indebtedness,  and  in  pursuance  of  an 
Act  of  Congress  approved  March  2.  1910.  the  Secretary  of  War  was  authorized  and 
directed  to  accept  the  land  so  tendered  with  all  improvements  thereon. 


Board  of  Trustees. 

1909-1910. 

Sarah  D.  Winans,  Chairman 
Abbie  A.  Adams 
Allaseba  M.   Bliss 
Sarah  E.   Fuller 
Carrie  R.  Read 


Committee  on  Transfer. 

1909-1910. 

Kate  E.  Jones,  Chairman 
Kate  B.  Sherwood 
Mary  L.  Gilman 
Mary  M.  North 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  483 

of  the  stream  immediately  above,  and  between  the  two  inner  lines  of  palisades. 
The  grease  and  refuse  from  them  were  found  adhering  to  the  banks  at  the  time 
of  our  visit.  The  guards  to  the  number  of  about  3,600,  were,  principally,  encamped 
on  the  upper  part  of  the  stream,  and  when  the  heavy  rains  washed  down  the  hill 
sides,  covered  with  30,000  (at  one  time  35,000)  human  beings,  and  the  outlet 
below  failed  to  discharge  the  flood  which  backed  and  filled  the  valley,  the  water 
must  have  become  so  foul  and  loathsome  that  every  statement  I  have  seen  of  its 
offensiveness  must  be  considered  as  falling  short  of  the  reality.  And  yet  within 
rifle-shot  of  the  prison  flowed  a  stream  fifteen  feet  wide  and  three  deep  of  pure 
delicious  water.  Had  the  prison  been  so  placed  as  to  include  a  section  of  the 
"Sweet  Water"  (Sweetwater),  the  inmates  might  have  drank  and  bathed  to  their 
hearts'  content. 

During  the  occupation  a  beautiful  spring  broke  out,  like  the  waters  of  Meribah, 
from  the  solid  ground  near  the  foot  of  the  northern  slope,  just  under  the  western 
dead-line.  It  is  still  there,  cool  and  clear,  the  only  pleasing  object  in  this  horrid 
place.* 

The  scarcity  of  water,  the  want  of  occupation,  and  perhaps  the  desire  to  escape 
by  tunneling,  impelled  the  prisoners  to  dig  wells.  Forty  of  these,  finished  and 
unfinished,  remain,  those  on  the  highest  ground  being  sunk  in  the  hard  soil  to 
the  depth  of  eighty  feet.  The  work  was  done  with  knives,  spoons,  sticks,  and  other 
tools  but  little  better.  The  diggers  brought  up  the  earth  in  their  pockets  and 
blouses  and  sprinkled  it  about  the  ground  to  conceal  the  quantity.  In  some  wells 
excellent  water  was  reached,  and  in  others  horizontal  galleries  were  attempted 
for  escape.  In  at  least  one  instance  a  tunnel  was  carried  through  the  hill  and  a 
few  prisoners  are  said  to  have  got  through. 

The  steep  face  of  the  northern  hill  is  burrowed  throughout  its  whole  extent. 
The  little  caves  are  scooped  out  and  arched  in  the  form  of  ovens,  floored,  ceiled 
and  strengthened  so  far  as  the  owners  had  means,  with  sticks  and  pieces  of  boards, 
and  some  of  them  are  provided  with  fireplaces  and  chimneys.  It  would  seem  that 
there  were  cases  during  the  long  rains  where  the  house  would  become  the  grave 
of  its  owner  by  falling  in  upon  him  during  the  night.  In  these  burrows  are  still 
found  remnants  of  wretched  food  and  rude  utensils  of  the  occupants — drinking 
cups  made  of  sections  of  horns,  platters  and  spoons  wrought  from  parts  of  old 
canteens,  kettles  and  pans  made  without  solder  from  stray  pieces  of  old  tin  or 
sheet  iron.  I  brought  away  a  considerable  number  of  these  articles,  which  may 
some  day  be  of  interest  to  the  curious. 

Five  sheds  stand  on  the  top  of  the  northern  hill,  erected  in  the  early  part  of  the 
occupation,  and  five  more  on  the  opposite  height,  built  a  short  time  before  the 
evacuation. 

Like  nearly  all  Southern  land,  the  land  is  liable  to  be  washed  away  by  the  rains, 
and  on  the  slopes  of  the  hills  ravines  are  now  formed,  gullied  to  the  depth  of 
twelve  feet.  It  seems  impossible  that  men  could  have  kept  their  footing  on  these 
hillsides  when  slippery  with  rain. 

Outside  the  enclosure  ond  nearly  parallel  with  its  south  end  is  the  hospital 
stockade,  800  by  350  feet.  It  contains  twenty-two  sheds,  for  the  most  part  without 
sides,  erected  about  three  months  before  the  place  was  abandoned.  The  old  hos- 

1  This  is  now  known  as  "Providence  Spring."     See  photograph. 


PROVIDENCE  SPRING. 
Many  prisoners  believed  that  it  gushed  forth  in  answer  to   theii 


prayers. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  485 

pital,  occupied  up  to  that  time  in  which  so  many  brave  men  died,  consisted  only 
of  tents  enclosed  by  a  board  fence  and  surrounded  by  a  guard.  Confused  heaps 
of  rubbish  alone  mark  the  place  it  occupied. 

About  half  a  mile  from  the  main  prison,  and  near  Anderson  station  is  the 
officers'  stockade,  a  small  enclosure,  in  which  were  never  imprisoned  more  than 
250  officers,  and  it  was  chiefly  used  for  the  confinement  of  rebel  offenders. 

The  cemetery,  around  which  the  chief  interest  must  gather,  is  distant  about 
300  yards  from  the  stockade  in  a  northwesterly  direction.  The  graves  placed  side 
by  side  in  close  continuous  rows  cover  nine  acres,  divided  into  three  unequal  lots 
by  two  roads  which  intersect  each  other  nearly  at  right  angles.  The  fourth  space 
is  still  unoccupied,  except  by  a  few  graves  of  Confederate  soldiers.  No  human 
bodies  were  found  exposed,  and  none  were  removed.  The  place  was  found  in 
much  better  condition  than  had  been  anticipated,  owing  to  the  excellent  measures 
taken  by  Major-General  Wilson,  commanding  at  Macon,  and  a  humane,  public- 
spirited  citizen  of  Fort  Valley,  Georgia,  a  Mr.  Griffin,  who,  in  passing  on  the 
railroad,  was  informed  by  one  of  the  ever  faithful  negroes  that  the  bodies  were 
being  rooted  up  by  animals.  Having  verified  this  statement  he  collected  a  few 
negroes,  sunk  the  exposed  bodies  and  covered  them  to  a  proper  depth.  He  then 
reported  the  facts  to  General  Wilson,  and  requested  authority  to  take  steps  for 
protecting  the  grounds.  That  patriotic  officer  visited  Andersonville  in  person, 
appointed  Mr.  Griffin  temporary  superintendent  and  gave  him  such  limited  facilities 
as  could  be  furnished  in  that  destitute  country.  It  was  determined  to  enclose  a 
square  of  fifty  acres;  and  at  the  time  of  our  arrival  the  fence  was  nearly  one-third 
built  from  old  lumber  found  about  the  place.  He  had  also  erected  a  brick  kiln, 
and  was  manufacturing  brick  for  drains  to  conduct  the  water  away  from  the 
graves  and  protect  and  strengthen  the  soil  against  the  action  of  heavy  rains.  We 
found  Mr.  Griffin  with  a  force  of  about  twenty  negroes  and  a  few  mules  at  work 
upon  the  ground.  I  have  understood  that  that  gentleman  furnished  the  labor  at 
his  own  cost,  while  General  Wilson  issued  the  necessary  rations. 

The  part  performed  by  our  party  was  to  take  up  and  carry  forward  the  work 
so  well  begun.  Additional  force  was  obtained  from  the  military  commandant  at 
Macon  for  completing  the  enclosure  and  erecting  the  headboards.  It  seems  that 
the  dead  had  been  buried  by  Union  prisoners,  paroled  from  the  hospital  and 
stockade  for  the  purpose.  Successive  trenches  capable  of  containing  from  100  to 
150  bodies  each,  thickly  set  with  little  posts  or  boards  with  numbers  in  regular 
order  carved  upon  them,  told  to  the  astonished  and  tear-dimmed  eye  the  sad  story 
of  buried  treasures.  It  was  only  necessary  to  compare  the  number  on  each  post  or 
board  with  that  which  stands  opposite  the  name  on  the  register  and  replace  the 
whole  with  a  more  substantial,  uniform  and  comely  tablet,  bearing  not  only  the 
original  number,  but  the  name,  company  and  regiment  and  date  of  death  of 
soldier  who  slept  beneath. 

I  have  been  repeatedly  assured  by  prisoners  that  great  care  was  taken  at  the 
time  by  the  men  to  whom  fell  the  sad  task  of  originally  marking  this  astonishing 
number  of  graves  to  perform  the  work  with  faithfulness  and  accuracy.  If  it  shall 
prove  that  the  work  performed  by  those  who  followed  under  circumstances  so  much 
more  favorable,  was  executed  with  less  faithfulness  and  accuracy  than  the  former, 
it  will  be  a  matter  of  much  regret,  but  fortunately  not  yet  beyond  the  possibility 


486  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

of  correction.  The  number  of  graves  marked  is  12,920.  The  original  records, 
captured  by  General  Wilson,  furnished  about  10,500;  but  as  one  book  of  the 
record  had  not  been  secured,  over  2,000  names  were  supplied  from  a  copy  (of  his 
own  record)  made  by  Atwater  in  the  Andersonville  Prison  and  brought  by  him 
to  Annapolis  on  his  return  with  the  paroled  prisoners. 

Interspersed  throughout  this  death  register  were  400  numbers  against  which 
stood  the  dark  word  "unknown."  So,  scattered  among  the  thickly  designated 
graves  stand  400  tablets,  bearing  only  the  number  and  the  touching  inscription 
"Unknown  Union  Soldier." 

Substantially  nothing  was  attempted  beyond  enclosing  the  grounds,  identifying 
and  marking  the  graves,  placing  some  appropriate  mottoes  at  the  gates  and  along 
the  spaces  designed  for  walks  and  erecting  a  flagstaff  in  the  center  of  the  ceme 
tery.  The  work  was  completed  on  the  17th  of  August,  and  the  party  took  the 
route  homeward  by  the  way  of  Chattanooga,  Nashville  and  Cincinnati,  arriving  at 
Washington  on  the  morning  of  August  24th. 

The  health  of  the  party  during  the  expedition  was  remarkably  good,  when  the 
season  of  the  year,  the  fatigue  and  want  of  customary  accommodations  are  taken 
into  consideration.  Cases  of  slight  chills  and  fever  were  not  infrequent;  but  during 
the  entire  time  we  had  only  one  case  of  severe  illness,  and  that,  to  our  grief, 
terminated  fatally.  Edward  Watts,  of  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  a  clerk  in  the  quarter 
master's  department,  in  this  city,  sickened  of  typhoid  fever  during  the  passage  up 
the  Savannah  Eiver,  and  died  on  the  10th  day  of  August.  His  remains  were 
taken  home  to  his  friends.  Mr.  Watts  was  a  young  man  of  education  and  refine 
ment,  and  of  the  highest  type  of  moral  and  religious  character;  he  suffered 
patiently,  and  died  nobly  and  well.  I  have  thought  that  he  might  be  regarded  as 
the  last  martyr  of  Andersonville. 

The  future  of  this  historic  spot  cannot  fail  to  constitute  a  subject  of  deep  and 
abiding  interest  to  the  people  of  this  entire  country,  and  it  would  seem  fitting 
that  it  should  be  preserved  as  one  of  the  sanctuaries  of  the  nation,  and  in  due 
time  dedicated  with  appropriate  honors.  Its  susceptibility  of  internal  improve 
ment  was  very  great.  Water  can  be  had  for  irrigation,  and  the  climate  will  pro 
duce  nearly  all  the  flora  of  the  temperate  zones.  Both  national  gratitude  and 
personal  affection  will  suggest  the  erection  of  a  suitable  monument  within  the 
cemetery,  where,  if  desirable,  may  be  preserved  in  durable  form  the  names  of  the 
martyrs  who  sleep  around.  And  as  the  land  on  which  these  interesting  associations 
are  clustered  is  still  the  property  of  private  individuals,  never  having  passed  from 
the  hands  of  the  original  owners,  it  would  seem  desirable  that  the  cemetery,  at 
least,  and  its  immediate  surroundings  become  the  property  of  the  nation.  A  mile 
square  will  embrace  all  points  of  general  and  historic  interest. 

There  are  numerous  smaller  burial  places  in  the  state  of  Georgia,  which  from 
their  seeming  lesser  importance,  will  scarcely  be  kept  up  as  national  cemeteries, 
and  in  reference  to  which,  without  venturing  to  suggest,  I  would  merely  remark 
that  the  fifty  acres  enclosed  at  Andersonville  would  afford  ample  space  for  all 
whom  it  might  ever  be  deemed  advisable  to  remove  to  that  point. 

During  the  occupation  of  Andersonville  as  a  prison  it  was  a  punishable  offense 
for  a  colored  man  or  woman  to  feed,  shelter,  aid,  or  even  converse  with  the  prisoners 
on  parole.  To  others  they  had  no  access.  I  have  been  informed  that  they  were 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  487 

not  allowed  about  the  prison  grounds;  and  so  great  was  their  superstitious  horror- 
of  the  cruelties  perpetrated  upon  the  prisoners  that  only  a  comparatively  small 
number  had  ever  found  the  courage  to  visit  the  cemetery  up  to  the  time  of  our 
arrival.  But  the  presence  of  so  many  Northern  people  on  such  an  errand,  and 
especially  a  lady,  entirely  overcame  their  fears,  and  they  visited  the  cemetery  and 
myself  by  scores,  men,  women  and  children,  sometimes  a  hundred  in  a  day.  It 
was  no  uncommon  occurrence,  upon  opening  my  tent  in  the  morning  to  find  a 
group  standing  in  front  of  it  who  had  walked  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  to  see  the 
"Yankee  lady"  and  ask  her  "If  it  were  true  that  Abraham  Lincoln  was  dead,  and 
they  were  free,"  and  "How  Massa  Lincoln's  paper  read,"  and  "What  they  ought 
to  do,"  and  tell  her  how  the  "poor  Yankee  prisoners"  ran  before  the  dogs  "like  us" 
and  they  could  not  save  them — starved,  and  they  could  not  feed  them — died — and 
they  could  not  see  them. 

Eemember,  mothers,  that  the  pitying  tear  of  the  old-time  slave,  whom  your  son 
helped  to  freedom,  is  the  only  tear  that  falls  upon  his  distant  grave  to-day. 

I  have  endeavored  to  point  out  to  you,  as  faithfully  as  I  am  able,  the  various 
objects  of  interest,  painful  or  otherwise,  which  presented  themselves  to  my 
observation  during  the  time  occupied  in  the  work  of  the  expedition;  and  while 
I  could  not  dwell  upon  the  terribleness  of  the  sufferings  imposed  upon  our  prisoners, 
nor  stir  the  hearts  already  sunk  in  grief  to  deeper  woe,  still  we  owe  it  alike  to  the 
living  and  the  dead  that  a  proper  knowledge  and  a  realization  of  the  miseries  which 
they  endured  be  entertained  by  all.  We  are  wont  to  attribute  their  chief  suffer 
ings  to  the  insufficiency  of  the  food,  and  while  this  is  probably  just,  still  to  the 
mind  of  one  who  has  looked  over  the  scanty,  shelterless,  pitiless  spot  of  earth  to 
which  they  were  confined,  and  taken  into  consideration  the  numberless  trials  which 
must  have  grown  out  of  the  deprivation  of  space  and  necessary  conveniences  of 
life,  the  conviction  will  force  itself  that  these  latter  woes  fell  but  little  short  of 
the  former.  It  is  to  be  remembered  that  during  thirteen  months  they  knew 
neither  shelter  nor  protection  from  the  changeable  skies  above  or  the  pitiless, 
unfeeling  earth  beneath. 

The  treacherous  nature  of  the  soil,  parching  to  seams  in  the  sun,  and  gullying 
and  sliding  under  their  feet  with  every  shower,  must  have  augmented  their  ills 
almost  beyond  conception.  I  watched  the  effect  of  a  heavy  fall  of  rain  upon  the 
enclosed  grounds,  and  in  thirty  minutes  the  entire  hillsides,  which  had  constituted 
their  sole  abiding  place,  were  one  rolling  mass  of  slippery  mud,  and  this  the  effect 
of  a  mere  summer  shower.  What  of  the  continued  rains  of  autumn?  Think  of 
thirty  thousand  men  penned  in  by  a  close  stockade  of  twenty-six  acres  of  ground, 
from  which  every  tree  and  shrub  had  been  uprooted  for  fuel  to  cook  their  scanty 
food,  huddled  like  cattle,  without  shelter  or  blanket,  half  clad  and  hungry,  with 
the  dreary  night  setting  in  after  a  day  of  autumn  rain.  The  hill-tops  would  not 
hold  them  all,  the  valley  was  filled  with  the  swollen  brook;  seventeen  feet  from 
the  stockade  ran  the  fatal  dead-line,  beyond  which  no  man  might  step  and  live. 
What  did  they  do?  I  need  not  ask  you  where  did  they  go,  for,  on  the  face  of  the 
whole  green  earth  there  was  no  place  but  this  for  them,  but  where  did  they  place 
themselves?  How  did  they  live?  Ay!  how  did  they  die?  But  this  is  only  one 
feature  of  their  suffering,  and  perhaps  the  lightest.  Of  the  long  dazzling  months 
when  gaunt  famine  stalked  at  noonday,  and  pestilence  walked  by  night,  and  upon 


488  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

the  seamed  and  parching  earth  the  cooling  rain  fell  not,  I  will  not  trust  me  to 
speak,  I  scarce  dare  to  think.  If  my  heart  were  strong  enough  to  draw  the  picture, 
there  are  thousands  upon  thousands  all  through  our  land  too  crushed  and  sore  to 
look  upon  it.  But  after  this  whenever  any  man  who  has  laid  a  prisoner  within  the 
stockade  at  Andersonville  would  tell  you  of  his  sufferings,  how  he  fainted, 
scorched,  drenched,  hungered,  sickened,  was  scoffed  at,  scourged,  hunted  and  perse 
cuted,  though  the  tale  be  long  and  twice  told,  as  you  would  have  your  own  wrongs 
appreciated,  your  own  woes  pitied,  your  own  cries  for  mercy  heard,  I  charge  you 
listen  and  believe  him.  However  definitely  he  may  have  spoken,  know  that  he 
has  not  told  you  all.  However  strongly  he  may  have  outlined,  or  however  deeply 
he  may  have  colored  his  picture,  know  that  the  reality  calls  for  a  better  light  and 
a  nearer  view  than  your  clouded  distant  gaze  will  ever  get.  And  you  need  not 
confine  your  sympathies  to  Andersonville,  while  similar  horrors  glared  in  the  sunny 
light  and  spotted  the  flower-girt  garden  fields  of  that  whole  desperate,  misguided 
people.  Wherever  stretched  the  form  of  a  Union  prisoner,  there  rose  the  signal 
for  cruelty  and  the  cry  of  agony,  and  there,  day  by  day,  grew  the  skeleton  graves 
of  the  nameless  dead. 

But  braving  and  enduring  all  this,  some  thousands  have  returned  to  you.  And 
you  will  bear  with  me,  and  these  noble  men  will  pardon  me,  while  in  conclusion  I 
speak  one  word  of  them. 

The  unparalleled  severities  of  four  years'  campaigns  have  told  upon  the  con 
stitutional  strength  even  of  the  fortunate  soldier,  who  alone  marched  to  the  music 
of  the  Union,  and  slept  only  beneath  the  folds  of  the  flag  for  which  he  fought. 
But  they  whom  fickle  fortune  left  to  crouch  at  the  foot  of  the  shadowless  palmetto, 
and  listen  to  the  hissing  of  the  serpent,  drank  still  deeper  of  the  unhealthful 
draught.  These  men  bear  with  them  the  seeds  of  disease  and  death,  sown  in  that 
fatal  clime,  and  ripening  for  an  early  harvest.  With  occasional  exceptions,  they 
will  prove  to  be  short-lived  and  enfeebled  men,  and  whether  they  ask  it  or  not, 
will  deserve  at  your  hands  no  ordinary  share  of  kindly  consideration.  The  survivor 
of  a  rebel  prison  has  endured  and  suffered  what  you  never  can,  and  what  I  pray 
God  your  children  may  never.  With  loss  of  strength,  and  more  of  sad  and  bitter 
memories,  he  is  with  you  now,  to  earn  the  food  so  long  denied  him.  If  he  ask 
"Leave  to  toil"  give  it  him  before  it  is  too  late;  if  he  need  kindness  and  encourage 
ment,  bestow  them  freely  while  you  may;  if  he  ask  charity  at  your  hands, 
remember  that  "The  poor  you  have  always  with  you,"  but  him  you  have  not  always 
and  withhold  it  not.  If  hereafter  you  find  them  making  organized  effort  to  provide 
for  the  widow  and  orphan  of  the  Union  soldier,  remember  that  it  grows  out  of  the 
heart  sympathy  which  clusters  around  the  memories  of  the  comrades  who  perished 
at  their  side,  and  a  well  grounded  apprehension  for  the  future  of  their  own,  and 
aid  them. 

In  conclusion,  tremulously,  lest  I  assume  too  much,  let  me  hasten  to  commend 
to  the  grateful  consideration  of  this  noble,  generous  people  alike  the  soldier  who 
has  given  his  strength,  the  prisoner  who  has  sacrificed  his  health,  the  widow  who 
has  offered  up  her  husband,  the  orphan  who  knows  only  that  its  father  went  out 
to  battle  and  comes  no  more  forever,  and  the  lonely  distant  grave  of  the  martyr, 
who  sleeps  alone  in  the  stranger  soil,  that  freedom  and  peace  come  to  ours. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  489 

One  word  of  explanation,  in  conclusion,  and  I  have  done.  You  have  long  and 
justly  felt  that  some  report  of  this  expedition,  embracing  a  record  of  the  graves 
identified  was  your  due,  and  three  thousand  letters  addressed  to  me  upon  the 
subject  have  revealed  only  too  plainly  and  painfully  the  bitter  anxiety  with  which 
you  have  watched  and  waited. 

A  mere  report,  unaccompanied  by  the  "record,"  seemed  but  a  hollow  mockery, 
which  I  would  not  impose  upon  you,  and  this  is  my  first  opportunity  for  such 
accompaniment.  For  the  record  of  your  dead  you  are  indebted  to  the  forethought, 
courage  and  preserverance  of  Dorence  Atwater,  a  young  man  not  yet  twenty-one 
years  of  age;  an  orphan,  four  years  a  soldier,  one-tenth  part  of  his  whole  life  a 
prisoner,  with  broken  health  and  ruined  hopes,  he  seeks  to  present  to  your  accept 
ance  the  sad  gift  he  has  in  store  for  you,  and,  grateful  for  the  opportunity,  I 
hasten  to  place  beside  it  this  humble  report,  whose  only  merit  is  its  truthfulness, 
and  beg  you  to  accept  it  in  the  spirit  of  kindness  in  which  it  is  offered. 

[Signed]     CLARA  BARTON.I 

THE  DEAD  AT  ANDERSONVILLE REPORT  BY  DORENCE  ATWATER. 

To  the  Surviving  Relatives  and  Friends  of  the  Martyred  Dead  at  Andersonvillef 
Georgia : 

This  record  was  originally  copied  for  you  because  I  feared  that  neither  you  nor 
the  government  of  the  United  States  would  ever  otherwise  learn  the  fate  of  your 
loved  ones  whom  I  saw  daily  dying  before  me.  I  could  do  nothing  for  them,  but 
I  resolved  that  I  would  at  least  try  to  let  you  sometime  know  when  and  how  they 
died.  This,  at  last,  I  am  able  now  to  do. 

So  many  conflicting  rumors  have  been  in  circulation  in  regard  to  these  rolls — 
the  list  of  the  dead — and  myself,  that  I  deem  it  prudent  to  give  a  brief  statement 
of  my  entire  connection  with  this  death  register,  and  to  show  how  and  why  it  has 
been  so  long  withheld  from  you. 

On  the  7th  day  of  July,  1863,  I  was  taken  prisoner  near  Hagerstown,  Maryland, 
and  taken  to  Belle  Isle,  Richmond,  Virginia,  via  Staunton,  where  I  remained  five 
months.  I  then  went  to  Smith's  tobacco  factory,  Richmond,  where  I  kept  the 
account  of  supplies  received  from  our  government,  and  issued  to  Federal  prisoners 
of  war.  In  the  latter  part  of  February,  1864,  I  was  sent  to  Andersonville  with 
a  squad  of  four  hundred  other  prisoners  from  Belle  Isle,  arriving  there  on  the  first 
day  of  March.  I  remained  inside  the  stockade  until  the  middle  of  May,  when  I 
was  sent  to  the  hospital.  On  the  15th  of  June  I  was  paroled  and  detailed  as  clerk 
in  Surgeon  J.  H.  White's  office  to  keep  the  daily  record  of  deaths  of  all  Federal 
prisoners  of  war.  I  also  made  monthly  and  quarterly  abstracts  of  the  deaths. 
The  latter  one  was  said  to  be  for  the  Federal  government,  which  I  have  since 
learned  was  never  received. 

The  appalling  mortality  was  such  that  I  suspected  that  it  was  the  design  of  the 
rebel  government  to  kill  and  maim  our  prisoners  by  exposure  and  starvation  so  that 
they  would  forever  be  totally  unfit  for  military  service  and  that  they  withheld 
these  facts.  Accordingly,  in  the  latter  part  of  August,  1864,  I  began  to  secretly 

1  I  am  indebted  to  Mr,  J.  M.  Bryant,  superintendent  of  the  cemetery,  for  copies  of  this  and 
other  reports  referred  to  in  this  chapter  and  also  for  the  copies  of  inscriptions  on  the  monu 
ments  there  erected. 


490  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

copy  the  entire  list  of  our  dead,  which  I  succeeded  in  doing  and  brought  safely 
through  the  lines  with  me  in  1865.  Arriving  at  Camp  Parole,  at  Annapolis,  Mary 
land,  I  learned  that  I  could  not  get  a  furlough  on  account  of  my  term  of  service 
having  expired  some  seven  months  before.  I  immediately  wrote  to  the  secretary 
of  war,  asking  for  a  furlough  for  thirty  days,  for  the  purpose  of  having  my  death 
register  published  for  the  relief  of  the  many  thousands  anxious  in  regard  to  the 
fate  of  their  dead.  Before  an  answer  could  have  returned  I  received  a  furlough 
from  the  commandant  of  the  camp.  I  then  went  to  my  home  in  Terryville,  Con 
necticut,  where  I  was  taken  sick  the  next  day  after  my  arrival,  which  confined 
me  three  weeks.  On  the  12th  of  April  I  received  a  telegram  from  the  war  depart 
ment  requesting  me  to  come  immediately  to  Washington  and  bring  my  rolls, 
and  if  they  were  found  acceptable  I  should  be  suitably  rewarded.  I  started  the 
next  day  for  Washington.  Arriving  there  I  went  to  the  war  department  and 
learned  that  the  person  (Colonel  Breck)  with  whom  I  was  to  make  arrangements 
was  absent  at  the  Fort  Sumter  celebration.  I  left  my  rolls  with  the  chief  clerk 
for  safe  keeping.  In  a  day  or  two  Colonel  Breck  returned,  and  he  informed  me 
that  the  secretary  of  war  had  authorized  him  to  pay  me  three  hundred  dollars 
($300)  for  the  rolls.  I  told  him  I  did  not  wish  to  sell  the  rolls,  that  they  ought  to 
be  published  for  the  benefit  of  the  friends  of  the  dead  for  whom  chiefly  they  had 
been  copied.  He  told  me  that  if  I  meant  to  publish  them  the  government  would 
confiscate  them;  that  I  could  have  until  9  o'clock  the  next  morning  to  decide 
whether  I  would  take  the  three  hundred  dollars  or  not.  The  rolls  were  then  in  his 
possession.  I  told  him  if  I  could  have  a  clerkship  in  the  department  which  he 
had  described  to  me,  three  hundred  dollars  and  the  rolls  back  again  as  soon  as 
copied,  I  should  consider  it  satisfactory.  To  this  he  agreed.  He  then  informed  me 
that  it  would  be  necessary  for  me  to  enlist  in  the  general  service  in  order  to  get 
the  clerkship.  To  this  I  objected,  but  in  no  other  way  was  it  available,  and  I 
accepted.  I  was  then  mustered  out  of  my  original  enlistment,  and  given  permission 
to  visit  home,  and  return  for  duty  by  the  first  of  June.  While  in  New  York  the 
latter  part  of  May  I  telegraphed  Colonel  Breck,  asking  if  my  rolls  were  copied,  to 
which  I  received  a  reply,  "Not  yet." 

Soon  after  my  arrival  in  Washington  in  June  I  called  upon  Colonel  Breck,  and 
asked  the  privilege  of  taking  sheets  of  my  rolls  out  after  business  hours,  to  copy 
and  return  them  the  next  morning.  He  said  he  would  have  to  ask  General  Town- 
send's  consent.  I  again  met  him  in  a  few  days.  He  told  me  that  he  had  been 
unable  to  see  General  Townsend.  I  then  wrote  to  Colonel  Breck  asking  if  he  did 
not  intend  to  return  my  rolls;  that  I  had  promised  that  the  rolls  should  be  pub 
lished  for  the  benefit  of  the  friends  of  the  deceased.  He  returned  my  letter, 
indorsed  as  follows:  "I  have  fully  explained  the  matter  to  General  Townsend,  and 
he  says  the  rolls  shall  not  be  copied  for  any  traffic  whatever."  I  had  never  spoken 
of  trafficking  in  them;  I  only  wished  to  give  them  to  the  .people  for  whom  I  had 
copied  them  at  some  personal  risk.  Nothing  more  was  said  about  the  rolls  until 
after  my  return  from  Andersonville  in  August. 

Miss  Clara  Barton,  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  upon  learning  the  condition  of  the 
cemetery  at  Andersonville,  and  that  the  graves  could  be  identified,  had  reported 
the  facts  to  the  secretary  of  war,  who  ordered  the  necessary  arrangements  to  be 
made  for  marking  the  graves.  A  party  charged  with  this  duty  left  Washington 


ANDEKSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  491 

on  the  8th  of  July,  consisting  of  Miss  Clara  Barton,  Captain  James  M.  Moore, 
myself  and  forty-two  letterers,  painters  and  clerks,  arriving  at  Andersonville  on 
the  25th  of  July. 

Before  leaving  Washington  it  was  found  that  the  original  register  captured  by 
General  Wilson,  was  deficient  in  one  book  containing  about  twenty-four  hundred 
names,  and  my  rolls  were  sent  to  supply  this  deficiency.  The  original  was  also 
found  blurred  and  imperfect,  through  want  of  care,  and  my  rolls  were  frequently 
needed  to  aid  this  defect.  They  were,  therefore,  publicly  and  constantly  in  the 
hands  of  all  who  had  occasion  to  consult  them  and  so  came  into  my  hands  in  the 
course  of  duty.  They  had  been  copied  in  Washington,  according  to  my  agreement 
with  Colonel  Breck,  and  were  mine,  and  lawfully  in  my  possession.  I  proposed  to 
retain  them  and  give  them  to  you  as  soon  as  I  could.  I  did  not  propose  to  injure 
anyone,  to  do  anything  unlawful  or  improper  with  them,  much  less  to  traffic  or 
speculate  on  the  information  they  contained,  but  I  did  retain  them.  When  the 
originals  were  needed  in  the  Wirz  trial  at  Washington,  they  and  my  copy  were  in 
my  tent  when  the  messenger  arrived  at  Andersonville.  He  took  the  original  and 
left  my  copy. 

When  we  started  home  I  placed  these  rolls  with  my  other  property,  in  my  trunk, 
and  brought  them  to  Washington.  Upon  my  arrival  I  reported  to  Colonel  Breck, 
at  the  war  department.  He  asked  if  I  knew  where  my  rolls  were.  I  said,  "I  have 
them;  will  you  allow  me  to  keep  them,  now  you  have  them  copied  here?"  He  told 
me,  "We  might  as  well  come  to  an  understanding  about  these  rolls.  This  is  the 
last  conversation  we  shall  have  about  them ;  if  you  will  pay  back  the  three  hundred 
dollars  you  can  keep  the  rolls,  otherwise  you  must  return  them."  I  asked  him  "if  he 
did  not  agree  to  give  them  back  when  copied."  He  said  "Yes,  but  you  are  going 
to  set  yourself  up  in  business  by  publishing  them,  and  we  do  not  consider  our 
selves  held  to  our  agreement."  I  told  him  "I  had  a  right  to  publish  them  (if  he 
called  that  setting  myself  up  in  business),  and  it  was  my  duty  to  do  so."  I  then 
turned  to  leave,  intending  to  see  Secretary  Stanton.  He  said,  "I  infer  that  you  do 
not  intend  to  give  up  the  rolls."  I  said,  "Not  yet;  I  must  go  further  to  see  about 
them."  He  said,  "You  will  go  to  the  Old  Capitol  if  you  do  not  give  them  up" 
and  then  sent  for  a  guard  and  had  me  arrested.  My  trunk  and  room  were  searched, 
but  the  rolls  could  not  be  found.  I  was  then  put  in  the  guard-house  for  two  days 
and  then  transferred  to  the  Old  Capitol  prison  and  in  a  few  days  I  was  arraigned 
and  tried  by  court-marshal  on  the  following  charges  and  specifications: 

Charge  1.    Conduct  prejudicial  to  good  military  discipline. 

Charge  2.    Larceny. 

Specifications:  In  this  that  said  private  Dorence  Atwater,  of  the  general  service 
of  the  United  States  army,  did  seize  and  unlawfully  take  from  the  tent  or  quarters 
of  J.  M.  Moore,  assistant  quartermaster,  U.  S.  army,  certain  property  of  the 
United  States  then  and  there  in  the  proper  charge  and  custody  of  the  said  Captain 
J.  M.  Moore,  to  wit :  A  certain  document,  consisting  of  a  list  written  on  about 
twenty-four  sheets  of  paper,  of  Federal  prisoners  of  war  who  had  died  at  Ander 
sonville,  Georgia,  the  same  having  been  prepared  by  the  said  Atwater,  while  a 
prisoner  of  war  at  Andersonville  and  sold  and  disposed  of  by  him  to  the  United 
States  for  the  sum  of  three  hundred  dollars,  and  did  appropriate  and  retain  the 


492  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

said  property  to  his  own  use.     This  at  Andersonville,  Georgia,  on  or  about  the 
16th  day  of  August,  1865. 

I  was  convicted  and  sentenced  as  follows:  To  be  dishonorably  discharged  from 
the  United  States  service,  with  loss  of  all  pay  and  allowances  now  due;  to  pay  a 
fine  of  three  hundred  dollars;  to  be  confined  at  hard  labor  for  the  period  of 
eighteen  months,  at  such  place  as  the  secretary  of  war  may  direct ;  to  furnish  to 
the  war  department  the  property  specified  in  the  second  specification  as  the 
property  stolen  from  Captain  J.  M.  Moore,  and  stand  committed  at  hard  labor 
until  said  fine  is  paid,  and  the  said  stolen  property  is  furnished  to  the  war 
department. 

On  the  26th  of  September  I  arrived  at  Auburn  state  prison,  New  York,  where  I 
remained  over  two  months  at  hard  labor,  when  I  was  released  under  a  general 
pardon  of  the  president  of  the  United  States. 

I  reached  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  the  following  day,  and  learned  that  the  record 
had  not  yet  been  furnished  you.  I  immediately  set  about  preparing  it  for  publica 
tion,  and  have  arranged  to  have  it  printed  and  placed  within  your  reach  at  a  cost 
of  the  labor  of  printing  and  material,  having  no  means  by  which  to  defray  these 
expenses  myself. 

I  regret  you  have  waited  so  long  for  information  of  so  much  interest  to  you. 

[Signed]     DORENCE  ATWATER. 

There  is  no  doubt  but  that  we  are  indebted  to  Dorence  Atwater  for 
the  preservation  of  the  names  of  a  large  number  of  the  dead  at  An- 
dersonville,  and  that  he  performed  the  labor  of  copying  the  death 
register  at  great  personal  risk  and  when  he  was  scarcely  physically 
able  to  use  the  pen.  Of  his  career  after  having  been  pardoned  by 
President  Johnson  I  find  the  following  in  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle 
of  May  28,  1911,  written  by  Mr.  A.  V.  H.  Hoffman : 

In  1867,  under  date  of  July  4th,  the  state  of  Connecticut  presented  Dorence 
Atwater  with  a  testimonial  signed  by  John  T.  Waite,  speaker  of  the  House  of 
Representatives;  James  E.  English,  governor,  and  Eph.  E.  Hyde,  lieutenant-gov 
ernor,  "in  grateful  remembrance  of  the  courage  and  patriotism  by  him  displayed 
in  the  late  war  for  the  suppression  of  rebellion  and  the  preservation  of  constitu 
tional  liberty." 

In  1868  President  Andrew  Johnson  appointed  Dorence  Atwater  consul  at  tb«l 
Seychelles  islands  in  the  Indian  ocean. 

In  1870  he  was  appointed  by  President  Grant  to  the  consulship  at  Tahiti  i/i  tne 
Pacific  ocean. 

In  1898,  during  President  McKinley's  administration,  Congress  removed  all  re 
maining  disabilities. 

On  July  18,  1872,  while  serving  as  consul  at  Tahiti,  Dorence  Atwater  was 
married  to  Princess  Arii  Noore  Moetra  Salmon  of  the  royal  family  of  Tahiti,  and 
nearly  forty  years  of  happiness  followed  this  union.  Desiring  to  visit  his  old 
home  again,  he  returned  to  the  United  States  last  summer,  was  taken  ill  in  this 
city,  where  he  passed  away  on  November  28,  1910,  in  his  sixty-fifth  year.i 

1  On  January  10,  1912,  his  remains  were,  by  members  of  his  family  and  surviving  widow 
placed  aboard  ship  for  final  interment  at  Tahiti.  A  large  number  of  his  _  comrades  of  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  participated  in  the  impressive  burial  ceremonies  of  the  Order, 
placing  the  American  flag  on  the  casket  as  a  final  tribute  to  his  memory. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  493 

It  should  be  explained  that  Atwater's  story  was  written  in  explana 
tion  of  his  original  purpose  to  relieve  the  anxiety  of  thousands  of 
widows  and  orphans,  the  fate  of  whose  dear  ones  was  shrouded  in 
mystery.  I  believe  his  motive  was  upright  and  honorable,  and  that 
he  was  most  unjustly  accused  and  convicted.  And  yet  the  war  depart 
ment  was  not  without  some  justification,  though  less  severity  might 
have  been  equally  effective  of  its  object.  It  was  thought  to  be  unde 
sirable  that  the  list  of  the  dead  should  be  published  at  that  time,  and 
before  all  doubt  had  been  removed  as  to  its  accuracy,  and  this  view 
has  since  to  some  extent  been  confirmed.  The  Atwater  list  has  been 
published  in  at  least  two  books  which  I  have  read,  and  I  had  thought 
of  including  in  this  volume  the  true  and  corrected  list,  but  as  it  would 
occupy  not  less  than  one  hundred  pages  it  seemed  better  to  use  the 
space  with  other  matter,  especially  as  the  war  department  has  not  yet 
given  out  the  finally  corrected  roster  of  the  dead.  The  doubt  has  not 
been  as  to  the  number,  but  as  to  the  identification  of  the  graves  and 
their  occupants. 

When  we  consider  the  evidence,  the  method  of  keeping  the  records, 
the  manner  of  handling  and  burying  the  dead,  the  great  number  dying 
daily  in  hospital  and  in  the  stockade,  many  of  them  so  disfigured  by 
disease  and  the  unclean  surroundings  as  to  be  unrecognizable,  I  cannot 
myself  feel  any  assurance  that  the  markings  of  the  graves  can  be 
implicitly  relied  on  as  correct  in  all  cases.  The  dead  are  there  and 
the  identity  of  the  dead  reasonably  assured,  but  the  identity  of  the 
place  where  the  remains  of  a  particular  soldier  lie  I  cannot  regard  as 
certain  in  every  instance.  And  we  know  that  several  hundred  graves 
are  marked  "unknown  soldier." 

Mr.  James  M.  Bryant,  the  superintendent  of  the  cemetery,  to  whom 
I  wish  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  for  many  courtesies  in  the 
preparation  of  this  volume,  has  written  some  facts  relating  to  the 
subject  which  will  be  read  with  interest.  In  his  letter  he  states  the 
reasons  for  his  belief  that  the  markings  may  be  relied  on  as  "fairly 
correct."  His  letter  follows: 

ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  NATIONAL  CEMETERY,  June,  10,  1910. 
HONORABLE  N.  P.  CHIPMAN,  Sacramento,  Cal. 

DEAR  SIR:  Your  letter  of  2d  instant  reached  me  yesterday,  and  was  read  with 
much  pleasure,  and  I  trust  with  profit  also. 

I  regret  having  kept  you  waiting  so  long  for  the  photographs,  but  it  was  not 
as  easy  to  find  the  Wirz  photograph  as  I  supposed  it  would  be.  The  photographer 
who  made  that  picture  moved  to  Birmingham  some  little  time  ago,  but  I  supposed 


494 


THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 


Center:    J.  M.  Bryant,  Superintendent  of  Andersonville  Cemetery. 
Upper  left  hand:    Entrance  to  Cemetery.    Upper  right  hand:    Entrance  to  Prison  Park. 

he  continued  to  have  the  picture  for  sale,  but  receiving  no  response  to  a  letter  sent 
him  relative  to  it  I  went  on  a  hunt  for  what  was  wanted,  and  the  one  sent  you 
was  taken  out  of  a  show  case,  none  others  being  on  hand.  This  either  indicates 
an  unusual  demand  for  the  view  of  the  mounment,  or  else  that  they  want  to  have 
them  disappear  from  the  market,  and  to  that  extent,  reduce  the  talk  about  the 
monument,  and  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  latter  is  the  explanation  of  the 
matter. 

As  I  wrote  you  the  Wirz  photograph  costs  fifty  cents,  the  others  twenty-five  cents, 
including  postage.  I  sent  more  views  of  the  cemetery  and  prison  grounds  than 
you  will  want,  but  you  can  select  such  as  you  desire  and  return  the  others. 

You  write  you  would  like  to  use  a  portion  of  my  letter  of  May  20th  in  your 
book.  I  did  not  keep  a  copy  and  cannot  recall  just  what  I  wrote,  therefore  will 
take  the  liberty  of  writing  a  rather  lengthy  letter,  and  if  you  are  able  to  cull 
from  it  anything  that  will  be  of  use  to  you  there  is  no  objection  on  my  part.  .  .  . 

I  thank  you  very  much  for  your  remarks  relative  to  the  Wirz  trial.  It  seems 
quite  plain  to  me,  after  reading  your  explanation,  that  one  might  very  easily  see 
one  kill  another,  identifying  the  murdered,  but  being  a  perfect  stranger  to  the 
one  killed  he  could  not  name  him,  though  perfectly  able  of  swearing  to  the  act 
itself. 

I  am  glad  I  referred  to  that  part  of  the  trial  as  your  remarks  have  removed  a 
doubt  from  my  mind  regarding  the  matter. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  495 

The  report  of  Miss  Clara  Barton  will  doubtless  give  you  a  better  idea  of  the 
conditions  prevailing  at  Andersonville  in  the  summer  of  1864  than  anything  I  can 
produce.  Yet  there  are  two  or  three  facts  connected  with  the  matter  she  fails  to 
refer  to,  and  are  not  mentioned  in  the  other  papers  I  am  sending  you,  and  which 
are  necessary  to  a  clear  and  full  understanding  of  the  question. 

When  a  man  died  there  was  an  effort  made  to  identify  him,  and  I  am  informed 
by  ex-prisoners  that  usually  there  were  members  of  the  same  regiment  near  by, 
who  furnished  the  facts  needed.  Where  identified  a  small  card  or  piece  of  paper 
was  secured  to  whatever  the  deceased  might  have  on  in  the  way  of  clothing,  and 
that  card  bore  merely  a  number,  which  corresponded  with  the  same  number  in  the 
burial  register,  where  the  name  and  record  were  written  out  as  full  as  circumstances 
permitted.  When  a  man's  body  was  placed  in  the  trench,  a  small  post  or  board 
was  put  at  the  head  bearing  the  number  found  secured  to  the  remains  when  received 
from  the  prison.  By  looking  up  any  number  found  on  one  of  these  posts,  in  the 
register,  all  the  known  facts  in  the  case  would  be  found.  Where  the  dead  man 
could  not  be  identified  he  was  buried  as  "Unknown."  I  have  talked  with  two  or 
three  ex-prisoners  who  wiere  on  duty  at  the  cemetery,  and  they  assure  me  that 
every  possible  care  was  exercised  in  performing  their  tasks  with  accuracy.  You 
will  notice  Miss  Barton  refers  to  the  same  matter.  Since  I  first  came  to  Ander 
sonville  (1883)  we  have  disinterred  three  or  four  bodies  for  shipment  to  friends 
and  re-burial  in  family  lots.  In  two  of  those  cases  the  bodies  were  identified 
through  a  peculiarity  of  the  teeth,  which  last,  perhaps,  longer  than  any  other  part 
of  the  body.  From  what  I  have  learned  by  reading  articles  written  by  eye-wit 
nesses,  and  in  conversation  with  those  who  took  part  in  the  sad  duty  of  burying 
the  dead  at  Andersonville,  I  am  quite  confident  the  records  are,  with  exceptions 
mentioned  later,  fairly  correct,  and  that  when  a  grave  is  pointed  out  to  anyone  as 
containing  the  remains  of  a  certain  soldier,  the  probability  is  that  it  does. 

Miss  Barton  is  a  clear-minded  woman,  one  of  varied  experience,  and  I  imagine 
it  would  be  somewhat  difficult  to  mislead  her  in  a  question  of  this  nature,  and  you 
will  see  from  her  report  that  she  has  entire  faith  in  the  accuracy  of  the  method 
used. 

And  the  government  would  hardly  have  spent  thousands  upon  thousands  of  dol 
lars  for  headstones  unless  it  was  satisfied  the  stone  would  mark  the  grave  of  one 
of  its  soldiers,  and  would  stand  just  above  where  he  slept. 

That  there  were  errors  made,  a  great  many  of  them,  is  only  what  might  reason 
ably  be  expected  from  the  conditions  and  circumstances  surrounding  the  prison 
and  everything  connected  with  it. 

When  all  the  facts  are  considered,  the  large  number  of  deaths,  the  rush  and 
turmoil  that  is  never  absent  under  such  environments,  the  hardened,  calloused  con 
dition  of  the  men  in  constant  contact  with  the  dead,  it  appears  wonderful  that 
we  have  as  correct  a  record  as  we  now  possess. 

We  commenced,  three  years  ago,  an  effort  to  eliminate  as  many  of  the  mistakes 
known  to  exist  in  the  records  as  possible.  New  York  having  the  largest  number  of 
any  state  buried  here  (over  2200),  we  commenced  with  that  state.  I  first  made  an 
alphabetical  list  and  sent  it  to  the  adjutant-general  of  that  state  for  comparison 
with  his  records  and  such  corrections  as  might  be  found  necessary.  As  a  result  we 
learned  of  quite  a  number  of  men  supposed  to  be  resting  beneath  the  sod  here  but 


496  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

who  the  adjutant-general's  records  show  were  mustered  out  with  their  regiments, 
or  died  elsewhere  than  at  Andersonville.  I  made  a  separate  list  of  these  cases 
and  sent  them  to  the  commissioner  of  pensions.  Through  him  we  learned  that 
several  were  yet  alive  and  on  the  pension  roll,  others  had  died  during  recent  years 
(since  the  close  of  the  war).  We  have  got  into  communication  with  some  of  those 
still  living,  and  know  just  how  the  error  was  made.  In  one  case  a  soldier  had  a 
blanket,  on  one  corner  of  which  appeared  his  name  and  record.  He  was  on  the 
list  for  exchange,  and  on  leaving  gave  his  blanket  to  a  cousin  who  was  very  sick. 
This  man  subsequently  died  and  the  record  found  on  the  blanket  was  supposed 
to  be  his  record.  In  another  case  two  men,  both  named  "Smith,"  were  in  the  hos 
pital,  one  a  patient,  the  other  a  nurse.  The  patient  died,  and  in  some  way  the 
nurse's  name  was  recorded  as  the  one  who  died. 

Two  men  belonging  to  the  16th  Connecticut  infantry,  supposed  to  be  buried  here, 
were  reported  by  the  adjutant-general  of  that  state  as  having  been  killed  at  Antie- 
tam,  Maryland,  and  buried  on  the  battlefield.  The  commissioner  of  pensions  re 
ported  that  a  widow  was  drawing  a  pension  in  one  of  the  cases,  and  that  claim  was 
filed  on  account  of  children  in  the  other  case,  and  that  both  men  were  certainly 
killed  at  Antietam  in  1863.  We  then  got  into  communication  with  sergeant-major 
Kellogg  of  the  16th  Connecticut  infantry,  and  the  explanation  in  these  cases  is 
very  interesting  indeed.  I  enclose  a  newspaper  clipping  giving  all  the  particulars. 
Please  return  it. 

These  are  samples  of  the  causes  leading  to  some  of  the  errors,  and  doubtless 
the  others  are  of  a  similar  nature.  The  percentage  of  real  mistakes  is  very  small, 
and  will  approach  the  vanishing  point  when  we  get  through  with  the  list.  Every 
available  source  of  information  has  been  followed  out,  and  within  a  year  we  will 
be  in  a  position  to  commence  writing  up  the  new  register,  and  while  there  are  some 
errors  that  can  never  be  corrected,  yet  in  comparison  with  the  whole  are  not  a 
drop  in  the  bucket. 

You  stated  that  it  might  be  advisable,  or  rather  would  add  interest  to  it  (the 
book)  if  it  contained  a  list  of  the  dead.  Any  list  that  could  be  supplied  at  the 
present  time  would  necessarily  be  inaccurate,  for  reasons  given  above,  for  in 
addition  to  the  errors  mentioned  are  those  of  spelling  of  names,  errors  in  rank, 
company  and  regiment,  etc.  These  are  simply  innumerable.  Then  we  have  found 
several  duplicates.  The  greater  portion  of  these  will  disappear  in  the  new  register. 
If  you  will  not  need  the  names  before  another  year  rolls  around  it  would  afford  me 
pleasure  to  prepare  the  list  for  you. 

But  as  stated,  a  correct,  approximately  correct  list,  cannot  be  supplied  at  the 
present  time.  I  am  through  with  the  preliminary  work,  and  the  list  of  dis 
crepancies,  which  number  thousands,  is  now  in  the  hands  of  the  quartermaster- 
general  for  the  purpose  of  being  verified.  As  soon  as  returned  I  can  make  a 
commencement  on  the  new  register,  and  when  once  under  way  it  can  soon  be 
completed.  .  .  . 

One  who  had  viewed  the  cemetery  as  the  Washington  expedition  left  it  in  1865, 
in  its  crude  and  unimproved  state,  would  hardly  recognize  it  at  the  present  day. 
It  has  been  improved  from  year  to  year  by  the  government,  trees  and  shrubs  in 
large  numbers  have  been  planted,  and  every  effort  put  forth  to  give  the  grounds 
the  appearance  of  a  park.  Pennsylvania,  Maine,  Indiana,  Iowa,  Connecticut  and 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  497 

New  Jersey  have  erected  handsome  monuments  within  the  cemetery.  Wisconsin, 
Massachusetts,  Ehode  Island,  Michigan  and  Ohio  placed  their  mounments  within 
the  old  prison  grounds,  now  known  as  "Prison  Park."  That  property  is  now 
owned  by  the  Woman's  Belief  Corps;  but  an  act  has  passed  Congress  and  been 
approved  by  the  president,  authorizing  the  government  to  accept  it  as  a  gift.1  The 
details  of  the  transfer  are  now  being  worked  out  by  Colonel  Hopkins,  of  Wash 
ington,  and  probably  within  a  year  the  title  will  pass  to  Uncle  Sam.  .  .  . 

It  will  give  me  real  pleasure  to  aid  you  in  any  way  within  my  power.  Any  time 
I  can  serve  you  please  command  me.  Very  truly  yours, 

J.  M.  BRYANT,  Superintendent. 

ANDERSONVILLE,  GEORGIA,  NATIONAL  CEMETERY,  July  6,  1910. 
HONORABLE  N.  P.  CHIPMAN,  Sacramento,  Cal. 

MY  DEAR  SIR:  Referring  to  my  last  letter  I  append  the  inscriptions  on  the  state 
monuments  within  the  cemetery,  namely, 

IOWA. 

On  the  west  side  of  the  die  the  seal  of  Iowa  is  engraved,  beneath  which  are  the 
words  "Iowa  honors  the  turf  that  wraps  their  clay.  The  Unknown.  Their  names 
are  recorded  in  the  archives  of  their  country."  On  the  base :  "Act  Thirtieth 
General  Assembly." 

On  the  south  side  of  the  die  is  engraved  a  water  scene  with  overhanging  willows 
and  a  mountain  rising  in  the  background,  under  which  is  engraved  the  following 
quotation  from  the  seventh  chapter  of  Revelations,  sixteenth  and  seventeenth 
verses:  "They  shall  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more;  neither  shall  the 
sun  light  on  them,  nor  any  heat.  For  the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne 
shall  feed  them  and  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains  of  water;  and  God 
shall  wipe  away  all  tears  from  their  eyes."  On  the  base :  "God  smote  the  side  hill 
and  gave  them  drink:  August  16,  1864." 

On  the  east  side  of  the  die  are  the  words  "Death  before  Dishonor."  Beneath  that 
legend  are  the  names,  with  company  and  regiment,  of  one  hundred  and  seven  Iowa 
soldiers  who  died  while  confined  in  prison.  On  the  base:  "Erected  A.  D.  1905." 

On  the  north  side  of  the  die  are  the  words  "Death  before  Dishonor"  and  the 
names,  with  company  and  regiment,  of  one  hundred  and  seven  more  Iowa  soldiers 
who  died  while  confined  in  the  prison.  On  the  base:  "Commissioners:  Sergeant 
D.  C.  Bishard,  Co.  M,  Eighth  Iowa  cavalry,  prisoner  nine  months;  Corporal 
M.  V.  B.  Evans,  Co.  I,  Eighth  Iowa  cavalry,  prisoner  eight  months;  Captain  J.  A. 
Brewer,  Co.  C,  Twenty-third  Missouri  infantry,  prisoner  seven  months;  Captain 
M.  T.  Russell,  Co.  A,  Fifty-first  Indiana  infantry,  prisoner  eighteen  months; 
Corporal  W.  C.  Tompkins,  Co.  D,  Twelfth  U.  S.  infantry,  prisoner  eight  months." 

INDIANA. 

South  side:  "Under  authority  of  an  act  of  the  Sixty-fifth  General  Assembly  of 
the  State  of  Indiana.  Indiana  mourns  for  her  fallen  heroes,  the  702  brave  sons, 
who  for  the  cause  they  loved,  gave  up  their  lives  in  Andersonville  Prison  from 
February,  1864,  to  April,  1865.  Death  did  not  affright  them,  nor  fear  subdue  them 
nor  could  famine  break  their  incorruptible  spirit." 

1  Since  conveyed  to  the  United  States  by  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps. 


498  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

East  side:  "With  great  pity  for  their  sufferings,  but  a  greater  admiration  for 
their  unfaltering  fidelity." 

West  side :  "Not  theirs  the  matchless  death  by  sword  or  shot ;  instead  the  agony 
of  martyrdom." 

North  side:  "Till  the  mountains  are  worn  out,  and  the  rivers  cease  to  flow,  shall 
their  names  be  kept  fresh  with  reverent  honors,  which  are  inscribed  upon  the 
book  of  national  remembrance." 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

This  monument  is  built  with  an  enclosed  arched  passageway  through  it,  and 
the  inscriptions  are  upon  bronze  tablets  secured  to  the  walls  within  the  arch. 
On  the  east  side  is  a  bronze  engraving  illustrative  of  the  stockade,  showing  the 
palisades,  dead-line,  guards  in  their  guard-boxes,  and  the  prisoners  procuring 
water  from  the  spring  by  using  long  poles  with  cups  on  the  ends  of  them.  Above 
cut  in  the  marble  wall  are  the  words  "Death  before  Dishonor." 

West  side:  This  monument  has  been  erected  by  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  in 
pursuance  of  an  act  entitled  an  act  to  commemorate  the  heroism,  sacrifices  and 
patriotism  of  the  Pennsylvania  soldiers  who  died  in  Andersonville  Prison,  Georgia, 
while  confined  there  as  prisoners  of  war:  by  the  erection  of  a  suitable  monument  in 
the  cemetery  at  that  place ;  creating  a  commission  for  such  purpose,  and  appropriat 
ing  the  necessary  money  therefor.  Approved  July  18,  1901,  by  His  Excellency, 

WILLIAM  A.  STONE,  Governor. 

Commissioners:  James  Atwell,  president;  Ezra  H.  Ripple,  secretary;  William 
T.  Ziegler,  Harry  White,  James  D.  Walker,  superintendent. 

On  another  bronze  tablet  adjacent  to  the  above  appears: 

In  Memoriam  Pennsylvania's  Sons  at  Andersonville. 

To  the  1849  of  her  devoted  sons  who  died  at  Andersonville  Prison,  where  they 
were  held  as  prisoners  of  war,  in  the  years  1864  and  1865,  and  who  are  buried 
here,  Pennsylvania  dedicates  this  memorial  of  her  undying  love.  The  faithful  men 
whose  names  adorn  this  monument  and  the  pages  of  their  country's  history,  were 
loyal  unto  death,  to  the  flag  of  the  Republic,  their  lives  are  woven  into  the 
precious  fabric  of  American  freedom.  Through  their  sufferings  they  have  left  a 
legacy  of  strong,  patient  endurance  to  the  coming  generations.  With  gratitude 
to  Almighty  God,  who  gave  this  nation  such  heroic  spirits  in  the  time  of  trial, 
Pennsylvania  cherishes  their  memory,  their  loyalty,  their  sacrifices  and  their 
graves,  a  priceless  heritage  for  evermore. 

This  monument  to  their  soldiers,  is  here  built  by  a  people  ever  fretted,  blazoned 
and  decked  with  the  hearts  they  built  it  of;  and  let  it  here  securely  stand,  in 
form,  in  stone,  in  cap,  in  gate,  till  every  shrine  in  every  land  will  their  lives 
commemorate. 

MAINE. 

North  side :  First  are  the  words  "Death  before  Dishonor."  Then  comes  a  bronze 
shield  with  the  coat  of  arms  engraved  on  it,  "In  grateful  memory  of  those  heroic 
soldiers  of  Maine  who  gave  their  lives  that  the  Republic  might  live,  and  of  those 
who  daring  to  die,  yet  survived  the  tortures  and  horrors  of  Andersonville  Military 
Prison.  1864  and  1865.  The  word  "Maine"  is  cut  in  large  letters  on  each  side  of 
the  monument. 


ANDEESONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  499 

NEW  JERSEY. 

West  side:  First  there  is  a  scroll  cut  from  the  solid  stone  with  the  words 
"Death  before  Dishonor." 

"Go  stranger,  to  New  Jersey,  tell  her  that  we  lie  here  in  fulfillment  of  her 
mandate  and  our  pledge  to  maintain  the  proud  name  of  our  state  unsullied,  and 
place  it  high  on  the  scroll  of  honor  among  the  states  of  this  great  nation." 

North  side:    "Number  of  dead,  255." 

East  side:  "Erected  by  the  state  of  New  Jersey  in  commemoration  of  the 
fidelity  and  heroism  of  her  soldiers,  who  died  at  the  Andersonville  Confederate 
military  prison,  Georgia,  in  faithful  adherence  to  their  pledge  of  patriotism." 

CONNECTICUT. 

West  side:  First  a  bronze  shield  containing  the  coat  of  arms  of  the  state.  "In 
memory  of  the  men  of  Connecticut  who  suffered  in  Southern  military  prisons, 
1861-1865." 

These  are  all  the  monuments  that-  are  completed  within  the  cemetery.  New 
York  and  Illinois  have  monuments  under  way.  The  inscriptions  to  be  placed  on 
the  former  are  not  yet  known.  Those  on  the  Illinois  monument  will  be  as  follows: 

ILLINOIS. 

In  the  center:  "Erected  by  the  state  of  Illinois  in  grateful  remembrance  of  the 
patriotic  devotion  of  her  sons  who  suffered  and  died  in  the  military  prison  at 
Andersonville,  Georgia,  1864-1865." 

Left  side:  "We  here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died  in  vain 
that  this  nation,  under  God,  shall  have  a  new  birth  of  freedom  and  that  govern 
ment  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  for  the  people,  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth." 
— Abraham  Lincoln  (Gettysburg  address). 

Eight  side :  "The  mystic  chords  of  memory,  stretching  from  every  battlefield  and 
patriotic  grave  to  every  living  heart  and  hearthstone  all  over  this  broad  land,  will 
yet  swell  the  chorus  of  the  Union,  when  again  touched,  as  surely  they  will  be,  by 
the  better  angels  of  our  nature." — Abraham  Lincoln  (first  inaugural  address). 

The  following  are  the  inscriptions  on  the  monuments  erected  within  the  old 
prison  grounds: 

WISCONSIN. 

West  side:  Near  top  is  cut  the  coat  of  arms  of  Wisconsin.  "This  monument 
erected  by  the  state  of  Wisconsin,  in  grateful  remembrance  to  her  sons  who 
suffered  and  died  in  Andersonville  Prison,  March,  1864,  April,  1865."  On  the  base, 
in  large  letters,  "Let  us  have  Peace."  On  one  of  the  projections  is  inscribed: 
"Commissioners  appointed  in  1904  by  R.  M.  La  Follette,  Governor."  On  another 
projection  appears:  "D.  G.  James,  president,  Richland  Center,  Wisconsin,  16th 
Wisconsin  Infantry." 

East  side:  First  is  cut  the  coat  of  arms  of  Wisconsin.  "Known  dead,  378.  To 
live  in  hearts  we  leave  behind  us  is  not  to  die."  On  one  of  the  projections  is  in 
scribed:  "L.  Williams,  treasurer,  Columbus,  Wisconsin,  1st  Wisconsin  Cavalry." 
On  another  projection  appears:  "C.  H.  Russell,  secretary,  Berlin,  Wisconsin,  1st 
Wisconsin  Cavalry."  On  north  and  south  sides  appears  "W"  within  a  wreath. 


The   Illinois  monument  has   since  been   erected;   see   page   437,   and  the  inscriptions  are   as 

above  given. 


COMMITTEE  ON  TRANSFER  OF  ANDERSONVILLE  PRISON  PROPERTY. 


ANDEBSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  501 

RHODE  ISLAND. 

West  side,  coat  of  arms  and  names  of  the  dead;  east  side,  names  of  the  dead; 
north  side,  names  of  the  dead;  south  side,  names  of  the  dead. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

Near  the  top  is  cut  the  words  "Death  before  Dishonor,"  and  underneath  that 
the  coat  of  arms.  "Erected  by  the  commonwealth  in  memory  of  her  sons  who  died 
at  Andersonville,  1864-1865."  At  the  bottom  in  large  letters,  "Massachusetts." 

East  side:  Cut  with  a  keystone,  "Known  dead  765."  Beneath,  "Eesolves  1900, 
chapter  77,  approved  May  28th.  WILLIAM  MURRAY  CRANE,  Governor. 

"Commissioners:  Charles  G.  Davis,  Thaddeus  H.  Newcomb,  Francis  C.  Curtis, 
Levi  G.  McKnight,  Everett  S.  Horton.". 

North  side:    Coat  of  arms.  oma 

West  side:    "To  her  1055  loyal  sons  who  died  here  in  camp  Sumter  from  March, 
1864,  to  April,  1865,  this  monument  is  dedicated." 
South  side:    Seal  of  the  United  States. 
East  side:    "Death  before  Dishonor." 

MICHIGAN. 

West  side:  "In  memoriam.  Erected  by  the  state  of  Michigan  to  her  soldiers 
and  sailors  who  were  imprisoned  on  these  grounds,  1861-1865." 

INSCRIPTIONS  ON  MONUMENT  TO  MRS.  LIZABETH  A.  TURNER. 

Badge  of  Woman's  Belief  Corps  at  top.  "Lizabeth  A.  Turner,  Past  National 
President,  Woman's  Belief  Corps,  Auxiliary  to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Bepublic. 
Life  Chairman  Andersonville  Prison  Board,  died  at  Andersonville,  April  27,  1907. 
Erected  by  the  Woman's  Belief  Corps  to  memorialize  her  work  in  hallowing  these 
grounds." 

INSCRIPTIONS  WITHIN  THE  PAVILION  OVER  PROVIDENCE   SPRING. 

In  center  over  the  fountain:    "With  charity  to  all  and  malice  towards  none." 

Marble  tablet  at  left  of  fountain:  "This  pavilion  was  erected  by  the  Woman's 
Belief  Corps,  Auxiliary  to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Bepublic,  in  grateful  memory 
of  the  men  who  suffered  and  died  in  the  Confederate  prison  at  Andersonville, 
Georgia,  from  February,  1864,  to  April,  1865. 

"The  prisoners  cry  of  thirst  rose  up  to  heaven,  God  heard,  and  with  his  thunder 
cleft  the  earth,  and  poured  his  sweetest  waters  gushing  here." 

"Erected  in  1901." 

ENTRANCE  GATE. 

A  large  arch  spans  the  entrance,  on  which  appears  in  large  letters  the  words, 
"Andersonville  Prison  Park."  Suspended  under  the  arch  is  a  tablet  with  follow 
ing  inscription:  "This  arch  was  erected  by  the  Woman's  Belief  Corps,  No.  9, 
Department  of  Kansas,  and  Woman's  Belief  Corps,  No.  172,  Department  of  Massa 
chusetts,  in  memory  of  the  unknown  in  Andersonville,  Georgia." 

The  above  comprises  all  the  inscriptions  you  asked  for,  possibly  more. 

Very  truly  yours, 

J.  M.  BRYANT,  Superintendent. 


502  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

PROVIDENCE  SPRING. 

"Providence  Spring"  has  been  the  source  of  much  speculation,  and 
by  many  its  appearance  was  attributed  to  the  direct  interposition  of 
God  in  answer  to  the  prayers  of  the  prisoners.  Mr.  Hiram  Bucking 
ham,  who  was  quartermaster's  sergeant,  Sixteenth  Connecticut  In 
fantry,  and  a  prisoner  at  Andersonville,  now  residing  at  Washington 
City,  wrote  me  of  date  October  18,  1910,  the  following  account  of 
the  appearance  of  this  spring.  I  think  it  will  be  accepted  as  the  true 
explanation  at  least  of  the  physical  fact: 

You  asked  me  about  Providence  Spring.  The  majority  got  their  water  by 
reaching  under  the  dead-line,  as  it  came  in  through  the  rebel  camp  above.  The 
prisoners  went  from  north  to  south  of  the  prison  by  following  the  dead-line;  by 
so  doing  they  had  packed  a  hard  path.  One  afternoon  in  August,  an  awful 
thunderstorm  came  up,  flooded  the  stream  through  the  prison,  undermined  the 
stockade  and  swept  it  away  and  the  next  morning  a  spring  broke  out  on  the  side- 
hill  just  under  the  dead-line.  It  was  a  natural  spring;  our  tramping  up  the  hill 
near  the  dead-line  had  so  packed  the  earth  that  the  spring  was  forced  to  empty 
in  the  stream  out  of  sight,  but  this  heavy  rain  forced  it  to  resume  its  old  opening 
up  on  the  hill.  It  now  opens  into  a  handsome  marble  house. 

There  have  been  some  unexpected  and  disappointing  delays  in 
getting  out  this  volume,  but  they  are  not  without  their  compensations. 

The  published  proceedings  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  have  just 
been  placed  in  my  hands,  in  which  I  find  some  very  interesting  .matter 
relating  to  Andersonville  Prison  which  should  in  addition  to  what  has 
already  appeared,  have  place  among  these  pages. 

Enhanced  value  is  given  to  the  book  in  the  half-tone  likenesses  I  am 
able  now  to  present  of  the  noble  women  who  have  done  so  much  to 
glorify  and  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  martyred  dead  at  Anderson 
ville. 

The  committee  having  charge  of  the  transfer  of  this  property  re 
ported  to  the  national  secretary  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  the 
progress  of  its  efforts,  culminating  in  the  formal  transfer  of  which 
we  have  just  read.  This  report  should  appear  in  this  volume  and  is 
as  follows: 

ILION,  N.  Y.,  August  4,  1910. 
GEORGIA  WADE  MCCI^ELLAN, 

National  Secretary  Woman's  Belief  Corps. 

MADAM:  The  Committee  on  Transfer  of  Andersonville  Prison  Property  respect 
fully  submit  the  following  report: 

The  failure  to  pass  the  bill  by  the  Sixtieth  Congress  was  reported;  also  that  it 
had  been  put  on  the  calendar  of  the  Sixty-first  Congress  in  special  session,  both 
House  and  Senate. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  503 

With  renewed  courage  and  a  prayer  for  success,  your  chairman  began  making 
a  list  of  new  Representatives  in  the  House  where  our  bill  6971  was  resting.  Book 
lets  and  letters  sent  to  them  brought  favorable  replies. 

Representatives  General  Isaac  Sherwood,  Ohio;  and  Major  Thomas  W.  Bradley, 
New  York,  who  from  the  beginning  had  been  deeply  interested  in  our  bill,  had  it 
taken  up  in  the  House  at  an  early  period,  and  on  December  10,  1909,  our  Bill  H.  R. 
10,106  was  ""committed  to  the  committee  of  the  whole  House  on  the  state  of  the 
Union,  and  ordered  to  be  printed." 

January  17,  1910,  the  bill  passed  the  House  of  Representatives  unanimously,  and 
victory  was  assured. 

Senator  William  Warner  had  charge  of  the  bill  in  the  Senate,  but  business  called 
him  out  of  the  city  and  its  passage  was  delayed  some  weeks,  when  it  passed  the 
Senate  without  opposition.  Vice-President  Sherman  was  favorable. 

On  March  2nd,  William  H.  Taft,  President  of  the  United  States,  signed  our  bill 
and  it  became  a  law. 

The  last  clause  of  the  law,  "the  details  incident  to  the  transfer  of  said  land  to 
be  arranged  and  perfected  by  the  secretary  of  war,"  made  it  necessary  for  the 
Woman's  Relief  Corps  to  employ  an  attorney-at-law.  Colonel  Thomas  S.  Hopkins, 
of  Washington,  D.  C.,  a  comrade  and  able  lawyer,  by  advice  of  Mrs.  Sherwood  and 
national  president,  was  consulted,  and  he  has  given  undivided  attention  to  the  land 
survey,  and  all  legal  lines  of  the  deed  of  transfer. 

Much  research  has  been  necessary  to  unravel  the  tangle  of  deeds  of  conveyance 
and  disputed  land  survey;  but  Chief  Clerk  Lewis  W.  Call,  of  Judge  Advocate- 
General  Davis's  department,  has  promised  Attorney  Hopkins  that  he  will  submit  to 
him  the  deed  of  transfer  approved  by  the  judge  advocate-general  in  time  for 
presentation  at  the  G.  A.  R.  encampment  greetings  in  Atlantic  City,  September 
20,  1910. 

Our  national  president  requested  me  to  extend  an  invitation  to  General  Davis  to 
be  present  to  receive  the  final  deed  of  Andersonville  Prison  property  to  the  United 
States  government. 

The  Woman's  Relief  Corps  is  greatly  indebted  to  Honorable  Joseph  B.  Foraker, 
who  introduced  Bill  6971  to  the  Senate,  May  5,  1908,  and  safely  piloted  it  to  the 
House;  also  to  Representative  John  A.  T.  Hull,  chairman  of  the  House  military 
committee,  and  Senator  William  Warner,  of  the  Senate  committee. 

Your  transfer  committee,  Kate  B.  Sherwood,  Mary  L.  Gilman  and  Mary  M. 
North,  have  rendered  valuable  assistance,  also  Carrie  Sparklin  Read,  while  it  was 
pending  in  the  Senate.  Your  chairman  has  tried  to  do  her  duty  in  superintending 
detail  work  to  its  final  completion.  Looking  back  to  March  27,  1908,  when  as 
national  president,  with  the  consent  of  my  executive  council,  in  the  name  of  the 
Woman's  Relief  Corps,  I  formulated  and  proffered  the  free  gift  of  Andersonville 
Prison  property  to  the  United  States  government,  my  heart  is  full  of  thankfulness 
and  gratitude  to  our  national  convention  and  national  president  that  I  was  con 
tinued  to  the  end  of  the  work,  and  thus  permitted  in  my  declining  years  to  see  the 
glorious  fruition  of  the  cherished  hope  of  years. 

It  was  the  harvest  time  of  the  work  while  the  veterans  of  the  Civil  War  held 
high  places  in  legislation,  while  many  women  of  the  war  yet  lived  and  remembered 
the  suffering  of  Andersonville  Prison,  the  greatest  battlefield  of  mental  and  physical 


504  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

suffering  known  in  the  annals  of  war,  and  we  are  proud  of  our  government  to-day, 
that  has  accepted  the  gift,  and  will  perpetually  guard  Andersonville  Prison  grounds 
in  honor  of  our  Nation's  defenders. 

The  Woman's  Belief  Corps  has  been  faithful  to  a  sacred  trust.  Lizabeth  A. 
Turner,  as  our  national  president,  sixteen  years  ago  received  the  gift  of  the  Ander 
sonville  Prison  pen  from  the  G.  A.  R.,  department  of  Georgia.  She  devoted  the 
remaining  years  of  her  life  in  hallowing  the  grounds  as  a  sacred  spot.-  It  was  a 
beautiful  devotion  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  to  care  for  and  beautify  these 
grounds,  and  in  surrendering  them  to  the  higher  care  of  our  government,  we  will 
not  forget.  It  will  ever  be  a  sacred  memory,  and  our  offerings  of  love  will  continue 
in  gifts  to  the  beautiful  rose  garden  that  is  consecrated  to  Memorial  Day  in  Ander 
sonville  Cemetery. 

Respectfully  submitted  in  F.,  C.  and  L., 

KATE  E.  JONES,  Chairman, 
KATE  B.  SHERWOOD, 
MARY  M.  NORTH, 
MARY  L.  GILMAN, 

Committee. 

I  find  in  the  proceedings  referred  to  the  report  of  Mrs.  Sarah  D. 
Winans,  chairman  of  the  prison  board,  to  the  national  secretary  of  the 
Woman's  Relief  Corps,  which  will  fittingly  round  out  the  account  of 
the  work  of  this  valuable  and  patriotic  auxiliary  to  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic.  I  quote : 

TOLEDO,  OHIO,  August  1,  1910. 
GEORGIA  WADE  MCCLELLAN, 

National  Secretary,  Woman's  Relief  Corps. 

MADAM:  I  have  the  honor  herewith  to  transmit  to  you,  and  through  you  to  the 
Twenty-eighth  National  Convention,  the  report  of  the  Andersonville  Prison  Board 
for  the  past  year. 

On  account  of  the  great  distance,  it  has  never  been  possible  to  hold  a  meeting 
of  the  board  at  Prison  Park.  On  that  account  the  responsibility  of  the  care  and 
improvements  has  rested  chiefly  upon  the  chairman  of  the  board.  I  have  endeav 
ored  to  keep  in  close  touch  with  its  members  by  writing,  and  am  proud  to  say 
that  I  have  had  their  most  loyal  support  in  all  that  seemed  necessary  to  be  done. 

Early  in  April  I  was  directed  by  the  national  president  to  go  and  make  all 
necessary  repairs  and  put  everything  in  good  order  before  making  the  transfer  to 
the  government.  Upon  my  arrival  there  I  found  work  which  detained  me  over 
three  weeks.  Both  wells  were  in  bad  condition ;  the  quicksand  had  to  be  drawn 
out  and  a  new  curbing  put  in;  their  depth  now  is  ninety  feet,  with  fifteen  feet  of 
water.  Much  to  our  surprise,  the  pump  at  the  windmill  during  the  winter  froze 
and  burst,  necessitating  the  purchase  of  a  new  pump.  The  tank  was  also  newly 
painted,  and  now  there  is  an  abundance  of  good  water  for  use  at  the  house  and  at 
the  rose  garden. 

Providence  Spring  was  never  in  such  fine  condition  as  now.  I  had  the  floor  of 
the  pavilion  newly  cemented.  The  water  is  running  through  the  fountain  furnished 
by  the  Ex-Prisoners  of  War  Association  into  a  basin,  and  into  a  pool  in  the  floor, 


ANDEBSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  505 

and  out  through  the  pavilion,  clear  and  sparkling  as  when  it  first  burst  forth  to 
quench  the  thirst  of  the  starving  prisoners.  The  ground  around  is  beautified  by 
growing  ferns. 

The  pecan  orchard  is  well  cared  for,  and  in  a  few  years  will  be  bearing  nuts  for 
profit.  The  grounds  are  well  kept,  and  the  Woman's  Belief  Corps  can  well  be 
proud  of  what  has  been  accomplished  by  the  indomitable  will  and  perseverance 
of  her  whose  monument  stands  under  the  folds  of  the  flag  near  by  the  rose  garden 
she  loved  so  well,  Lizabeth  A.  Turner. 

During  the  past  year  four  hundred  and  eleven  visitors  have  registered,  thirty- 
eight  ex-soldiers  and  eight  ex-prisoners. 

The  caretaker,  Comrade  Bickell,  and  his  wife  have  proven  themselves  the  right 
people  in  the  right  place.  Having  been  a  prisoner  there,  he  is  interested  in  pre 
serving  all  the  landmarks,  and  the  wells  where  the  boys  dug  in  vain  for  water. 
These  wells,  some  seventy  and  eighty  feet  deep,  are  well  preserved  and  will  stand 
forever  in  memory  of  those  who  made  the  great  sacrifice  loyal  and  true  to  their 
country  and  died  for  the  cause  of  freedom,  and  whose  bones  are  washing  out  of  the 
ground  on  the  hillside  at  every  heavy  rainstorm. 

Mrs.  Bickell,  a  typical  Southern  woman,  proves  herself  an  agreeable  hostess; 
she  is  loyal  and  fully  in  sympathy  with  the  oft-repeated  story  of  starvation  and 
suffering,  as  told  by  the  ex-prisoners  while  visiting  there,  and  repeats  the  truth 
of  the  same  to  those  who  would  fain  believe  that  such  inhuman  cruelties  never 
could  have  existed  in  a  civilized  country. 

The  Wirz  monument,  standing  in  the  village,  is  its  own  condemnation.  It  need 
only  stand  there;  a  time  will  come  when  the  South  will  be  glad  to  bury  it  from 
sight. 

Our  gifts  this  year  are  not  numerous,  but  much  appreciated.  Through  Kate  G. 
Eaynor,  national  patriotic  instructor,  the  Sons  of  Veterans  Auxiliary  gave  cocoa 
matting  for  the  main  hall  in  the  cottage. 

The  Department  of  Ohio,  through  its  president,  Mary  C.  Wentzel,  gave  a  large 
wool  bunting  flag  for  the  flagpole  which  was  dedicated  on  Memorial  Day. 

Mr.  William  Easterlin  has  promised  to  give  land  for  a  boulevard  to  connect 
Prison  Park  with  the  cemetery,  making  a  deed  to  the  government  when  the  trans 
fer  is  made. 

To  make  and  keep  our  country  great  and  strong,  education  must  go  hand  in 
hand  with  patriotism;  and  as  the  Woman's  Belief  Corps  transfers  to  the  United 
States  government  her  sacred  trust  of  preserving  the  hallowed  spot  where  thous 
ands  suffered  martyrdom  because  of  their  patriotism,  what  more  fitting  use  could 
be  made  of  a  part  of  the  fund,  set  aside  for  Andersonville  Prison  Park,  than  to 
use  it  to  encourage  this  grand  moral  sentiment1?  .  .  .  The  Memorial  University, 
located  in  the  geographical  center  of  the  United  States  and  dedicated  to  the 
veterans  and  loyal  women  of  1861-65,  is  only  in  its  infancy  and  needs  our  patriotic 
and  loving  support.  We  now  have  the  opportunity  of  helping  to  build  this  living 
monument  to  a  size  as  big  as  the  biggest.  .  .  . 

And  now  as  this  sacred  place  is  about  to  pass  into  other  hands,  and  I  think  of 
laying  down  the  work  so  near  to  my  heart,  and  in  which  I  have  labored  for  fourteen 
long  years,  I  must  confess  a  feeling  of  loneliness  comes  over  me,  and  I  shall  long  to 
journey  to  that  Mecca  once  more  and  see  it  made  more  beautiful  as  the  years  go  by. 


ANDERSONVILLE  PRISON   BOARD. 


Woman's  Relief  Corps  Committee,  Andersonville  Prison  Board, 
who  have  had  the  care  and  keeping  of  the  prison  pen  grounds  for 
years ;  and  who  have  restored  this  sacred  spot  from  a  withering 
waste  to  a  place  beautiful  in  memory  of  nearly  14,000  soldier  boys 
who  suffered  "Death  Before  Dishonor." 


ANDEBSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  507 

To  the  members  of  the  board  and  members  of  the  advisory  board,  who  with 
kind  words  and  advice  have  rendered  valued  assistance,  I  return  sincere  thanks. 

I  wish  to  express  to  the  national  president  my  thanks  for  the  trust,  confidence 
and  counsel  throughout  the  entire  year;  and  to  all  who  have  placed  a  flower  in  my 
pathway  I  express  heartfelt  thanks. 

Respectfully  submitted  in  F.,  C.  and  L., 

SARAH  D.  WINANS,  Chairman. 

At  the  National  Encampment  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
convened  at  Atlantic  City  in  September,  1910,  there  was  a  semi-official 
meeting  of  welcome  held  on  the  evening  of  September  20th.  Among 
other  interesting  proceedings,  all  of  which  were  of  the  most  inspiring 
and  patriotic  character,  was  the  formal  transfer  of  the  title  to  the 
prison  grounds.  I  quote  as  follows : 

COMMANDEB-IN-CHIEF  VAN  SANT:  The  next  number  on  the  programme  is  of 
great  interest  to  every  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  presenta 
tion  to  the  United  States  government,  by  the  national  president  of  the  Woman's 
Relief  Corps,  of  Andersonville  Prison  grounds. 

JENNIE  IOWA  BERRY,  national  president  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps:  Com 
mander-in-chief  and  friends :  One  of  the  great  spots  of  American  history,  hallowed 
by  sufferings  known  to  America  and  to  the  world,  the  sight  of  Andersonville 
Prison  pen,  is  about  to  pass  from  the  keeping  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  to  that 
of  the  United  States  government,  and  I  have  requested  the  woman  who  has  been 
instrumental  in  bringing  about  the  acceptance  by  the  government  of  this  historic 
and  sacred  spot  to  make  the  presentation,  Kate  E.  Jones,  past  national  president 
of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps. 

KATE  E.  JONES  :  Commander-in-chief,  veterans  of  the  Grand  Army  and  citizens 
assembled:  Sixteen  years  ago  the  department  of  Georgia,  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  presented  to  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  a  tract  of  land  known  as  the 
Andersonville  Prison  pen,  famous  in  the  history  of  the  Civil  War. 

The  Woman's  Relief  Corps  accepted  the  gift  as  a  sacred  trust,  and  year  after 
year  improved,  cultivated  and  beautified  the  grounds  till  the  barren  desert  waste 
became  a  garden  of  beauty.  Five  states  erected  beautiful  monuments  thereon  to 
the  memory  of  their  heroic  dead,  and  far  above  the  highest  ground  in  the  old 
stockade  the  stars  and  stripes  floated  in  the  breeze,  seen  for  miles  around. 

As  the  years  went  on  the  feeling  grew  apace  among  comrades  and  members  of 
the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  that  these  hallowed  grounds  should  be  under  the  care 
of  and  belong  to  the  United  States  government.  March  27,  1908,  I,  as  national 
president,  in  the  name  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps,  proffered,  as  a  free  gift,  the 
Andersonville  Prison  property  to  the  United  States  government.  Finally,  after 
some  delay,  the  bill  passed  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  unanimously, 
and  March  2,  1910,  President  William  H.  Taft  signed  the  bill,  and  it  became  a 
law. 

To-night  I  have  the  honor  to  present  to  the  representative,  Lewis  W.  Call, 
chief  clerk  of  Judge  Advocate-General  George  B.  Davis  of  the  war  department, 
the  transfer  deed  of  Andersonville  Prison  property  from  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps 


508  THE  TRAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

to  the  United  States  government.  It  is  a  deed  of  a  battlefield,  the  battlefield  of 
the  greatest  mental  and  physical  suffering  known  in  the  annals  of  war,  where 
nearly  14,000  men  imprisoned,  suffered,  starved  and  died  in  defense  of  their 
country,  preferring  death  to  dishonor. 

It  is  land  blessed  by  God  in  Providence  Spring  when 

The  prisoners'  cry  of  thirst  rang  up  to  Heaven ; 
God  heard  and  with  his  thunder  cleft  the  earth 
And  poured  His  sweetest  water  gushing  there. 
a  crystal  spring  to-day. 

We  are  proud  of  our  government  that  it  accepts  our  gift,  and  will  perpetually 
guard  and  care  for  this  hallowed  spot  in  honor  of  our  nation's  defenders. 

As  I  surrender  to  you  this  deed  to  the  Andersonville  Prison  property  the  heart 
of  the  Woman's  Belief  Corps  goes  with  it.  Many  of  us  are  old,  gray-haired 
women  of  the  war,  that  knew  of  the  sufferings  of  Andersonville.  We  shall  never 
forget,  but  continue  our  gifts  to  the  beautiful  rose  garden  with  its  wealth  of 
blossoms  consecrated  to  Memorial  Day  and  the  graves  in  Andersonville  National 
Cemetery. 

LEWIS  W.  CALL:  Ladies  of  the  Woman's  Eelief  Corps:  In  accepting  from  you 
this  gift  to  the  government  of  the  hallowed  spot  which  has  been  your  care  for 
sixteen  years  I  feel  that  it  is  fitting  that  it  should  pass  into  the  hands  of  the 
government  for  whom  14,000  men  suffered  martyrdom,  and  especially  fitting  that 
it  should  be  placed  under  the  care  of  the  war  department,  whose  judge  advocate- 
general  has  authorized  me  to  accept  your  donation. 

I  feel  sure  that  your  trust  will  be  faithfully  executed,  that  the  grounds  will 
ever  be  held  as  a  memorial  of  the  heroism  of  the  men  who  there  proved  them 
selves  the  highest  type  of  patriots,  that  future  generations  may  journey  there, 
and  reading  the  inscriptions  upon  the  monuments  you  have  caused  to  be  erected, 
honor  their  memory,  and  realizing,  in  a  measure,  the  individual  sacrifice  and 
patriotism  that  were  necessary  to  preserve  this  nation,  be  inspired  to  do  their  part 
to  keep  this  a  government  of  the  people,  for  the  people  and  by  the  people.  I 
thank  you  in  the  name  of  the  United  States  government  for  this  gift. 

Some  of  the  defenders  of  Andersonville  Prison  have  alluded  in  con 
temptuous  phrase  to  the  fact  that  many  prisoners  believed  that  Prov 
idence  Spring  burst  forth  as  a  direct  answer  to  their  prayers  for  relief 
from  the  thirst  which  was  consuming  them.  Inscriptions  on  some  of 
the  monuments  erected  at  the  cemetery  have  crystalized  this  belief. 
Are  we  at  liberty  to  treat  the  matter  as  pure  superstition — the  idle  con 
juring  of  disordered  minds  ?  This  spring  figures  throughout  the  testi 
mony  ;  several  lives  were  sacrificed  at  this  spot  in  cases  where  the  cry 
of  suffering  nature  overcame  the  dictates  of  prudence  and  the  fatal 
dead-line  was  unintentionally  infringed  upon.  But  these  life-giving 
waters  saved  many  souls  from  perishing,  and  can  we  wonder  that 
Providence  Spring  was  worshipped  with  unreasoning  superstition — a 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  509 

sort  of  fetishism?  What  right  have  we  dogmatically  now  to  say  that 
God's  hand  was  not  made  manifest  in  this  unexpected  source  of  relief  ? 
While  these  pages  were  being  passed  through  the  press  the  bronze 
tablet  to  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  was  on  Memorial  Day,  1911,  dedi 
cated  at  Andersonville.  Mrs.  Sarah  D.  Winans,  chairman  of  the 
Andersonville  Prison  Board,  has  sent  me  a  report  of  the  dedicatory 
proceedings  as  published  in  the  Atlanta  Constitution  June  4th,  which 
will  be  read  with  interest  by  all  who  are  in  sympathy  with  the  noble 
work  of  this  patriotic  organization.  Among  the  illustrations  in  this 
volume  I  have  been  able  to  secure  two  of  especial  value — namely,  the 
monument  to  Lizabeth  Turner  and  the  tablet  commemorating  the 
work  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps.  The  report  of  the  proceedings  on 
the  latter  occasion  follows : 

At  the  dedication  on  Tuesday,  May  30,  of  the  bronze  tablet  to  the  Woman's 
Relief  Corps,  recently  erected  in  Andersonville  Park,  interesting  addresses  were 
made  by  a  number  of  prominent  men  and  women,  and  many  visitors  were  present 
to  witness  the  exercises  which  commemorate  the  work  of  the  Relief  Corps,  auxiliary 
to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  in  presenting  the  park  to  the  United  States 
government. 

The  opening  number  on  the  programme  was  the  raising  of  "Old  Glory,"  which 
was  presented  by  past  department  presidents  of  the  Vermont  Woman's  Relief 
Corps.  After  the  ceremony,  Mrs.  Harris,  national  president  of  the  corps,  sang  the 
"Star  Spangled  Banner." 

Mrs.  Crane,  national  chaplain  of  the  ladies  of  the  G.  A.  R.,  gave  the  invocation. 
The  history  of  the  purchase  of  Andersonville  by  the  department  of  the  Georgia 
G.  A.  R.  was  read  by  Past  Department  Commander  W.  M.  Scott,  of  Atlanta. 

A  poem,  written  for  the  occasion  by  T.  C.  Harbaugh,  was  read  by  Mrs.  Emmo- 
gene  Marshall,  whose  brother  was  among  the  first  to  enter  Andersonville,  and  lies 
buried  there. 

The  history  of  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps  at  Andersonville  since  1896, 
was  given  by  Mrs.  Sarah  D.  Winans,  chairman  of  the  Andersonville  prison  board. 

The  monument  was  turned  over  to  the  national  president  of  Women's  Relief 
Corps,  she  in  turn  presenting  it  to  the  United  States  government,  through  Captain 
Bryant,  superintendent  of  Andersonville  cemetery,  who  responded  briefly  for  the 
government. 

The  address  of  the  afternoon  was  delivered  by  Mrs.  Lue  Stuart  Wadsworth,  of 
Boston,  national  patriotic  instructor  of  the  Woman's  Relief  Corps,  and  was  a  finely 
worded  and  inspiring  tribute. 

Preceding  her  address  Mrs.  Wadsworth  recited  her  original  poem,  "A  Tribute  to 
the  Heroes  of  Andersonville,"  among  whom  was  her  uncle. 

Mrs.  Dr.  Bliss,  of  Saginaw,  Mich.,  paid  a  tribute  to  the  women  of  the  war,  and 
an  original  poem  by  Past  National  President  Mrs.  Kate  Brownlee  Sherwood,  of 
Toledo,  Ohio,  was  read,  and  also  a  letter  from  Miss  Barton,  an  honored  member 


510  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

of  the  order,  after  which  there  was  a  song  by  National  President  Mrs.  Harris,  "The 
Flag  Without  a  Stain." 

The  exercises  closed  with  singing  of  "America"  and  the  benediction. 

The  monument  was  unveiled  by  Master  J.  Corey  Winans,  Jr.,  of  Ohio,  and  three 
hearty  cheers  were  given  by  the  veterans  for  the  completed  work  of  the  noble 
women. 

Members  of  the  two  G.  A.  K.  posts  in  Fitzgerald  and  their  auxiliaries  of  Woman's 
Belief  Corps  and  Ladies  of  the  G.  A.  E.  were  present  in  large  numbers.  Many 
members  of  the  order  were  present,  among  whom  were  National  President  Mrs. 
Belle  C.  Harris,  of  Emporia,  Kansas;  National  Patriotic  Instructor  Mrs.  Lue 
Stuart  Wadsworth,  of  Boston,  Massachusetts;  Chairman  of  the  Executive  Board 
Mrs.  Alice  C.  Dillworth,  of  Omaha,  Nebraska ;  Past  National  President  Mrs.  Sarah 
D.  Winans,  of  Toledo,  Ohio;  Mrs.  Allaseba  M.  Bliss,  of  Saginaw,  Michigan; 
Assistant  National  Press  Correspondent  Mrs.  Isabel  Worrell  Ball,  of  Washington, 
D.  C. ;  Mrs.  Elenora  Marshall,  of  Sandusky,  Ohio;  Past  Department  President  of 
Idaho,  Mrs.  Emma  C.  Grinnell,  of  Beloit,  Wisconsin;  National  Chaplain  of  the 
Ladies  of  the  G.  A.  E.  Mrs.  M.  C.  Crane;  Mrs.  T.  C.  Wainman,  of  Bainbridge, 
Georgia. 

Comrade  J.  T.  Bicknell  and  Mrs.  Bicknell  entertained  those  who  remained  over 
night  at  the  park. 

In  reply  to  inquiries  made  relative  to  the  work  of  the  Woman's 
Relief  Corps  at  the  Andersonville  Cemetery,  Mrs.  Winans  has  written 
me  some  facts  which  should  find  a  place  in  this  volume.  I  quote : 

You  refer  to  the  work  of  the  Woman's  Eelief  Corps  in  beautifying  the  cemetery 
grounds.  In  this  you  are  under  a  misapprehension.  The  cemetery  has  always 
been  cared  for  by  the  general  government.  It  is  the  prison  pen,  the  ground  where 
the  boys  suffered  and  starved  that  we  thought  should  be  held  as  sacred  ground. 
It  lies  about  one-fourth  of  a  mile  from  the  cemetery  and  contains  eighty-seven 
acres,  which  include  all  the  earthworks  and  forts  surrounding  the  stockade;  also 
Wirz's  headquarters.  The  Grand  Army  of  the  Eepublic  organization  of  Georgia 
first  purchased  the  grounds  but  were  not  able  to  improve  them  and  asked  the 
Woman's  Eelief  Corps  to  accept  them  as  a  gift,  which  we  did,  pledging  ourselves 
to  improve  and  keep  them  in  order.  We  found  it  necessary  to  purchase  fourteen 
acres  additional  to  include  all  the  forts.  We  took  possession  of  the  property  in 
1896.  We  put  a  woven  wire  fence  around  the  entire  eighty-seven  acres,  built  a 
nine-room  house  and  placed  a  care-taker  on  the  ground.  Later  we  built  a  granite 
pavilion  over  Providence  Spring  and  made  improvements  from  year  to  year.  Five 
states  have  erected  monuments  in  the  stockade,  believing  they  should  stand  on 
the  ground  where  the  men  whose  memory  they  commemorate  suffered  and  died. 
The  monuments  erected  by  Ohio,  Michigan,  Massachusetts,  Ehode  Island  and  Wis 
consin  are  within  the  grounds.  ...  I  presume  you  are  aware  that  the  govern 
ment  has  accepted  a  deed  of  this  property  from  the  Woman's  Eelief  Corps.  I  am 
yet  in  charge,  but  they  promise  to  take  possession  very  soon.  We  have  planted 
400  pecan  trees  that  are  now  coming  into  bearing.  I  think  the  government  will 
make  a  boulevard  joining  the  stockade  and  the  cemetery.  ...  I  do  feel  that  as  the 
English  government  guards  with  reverent  care  the  "Black  Hole  of  Calcutta,"  so 


THE  EMPTY  SLEEVE. 

John  S.  Roster,  a  Union  soldier  now  residing  at  Port  Leyden,  N.  Y.,  and  his  little  grand 
son  "Bob."  This  picture  has  no  direct  relevancy  to  Andersonville,  but  it  represents  a  phase 
of  the  sacrifices  caused  by  the  rebellion  which  should  lead  us  to  pause  before  bestowing  honors 
and  rewards  upon  the  participants  in  that  rebellion.  The  touching  story  told  by  this  graphic 
picture  will  appeal  to  the  surviving  veterans  of  the  Union  Army  and,  it  is  hoped,  may  not 
be  without  its  lesson  to  the  youth  of  our  country. 


512  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEKSONVILLE. 

we  should  with  more  reverent  care  guard  the  sacred  ground  on  which  so  many 
suffered  and  died  for  our  flag. 

Then  the  miracle  of  Providence  Spring  should  be  recorded  in  history.  The  wells 
dug  there  are  in  perfect  preservation — some  seventy  to  eighty  feet  deep.  .  .  . 
After  a  heavy  rain  you  can  pick  up  human  bones  in  the  stockade  grounds.  When 
they  dug  to  set  up  the  flag-pole  they  came  upon  the  remains  of  a  body;  also  when 
the  Michigan  monument  was  erected;  and  also  when  the  pecan  trees  were  being  set 
out,  which  proves  that  many  lie  buried  there  in  addition  to  those  buried  in  the 
cemetery.  We  gathered  and  placed  some  of  these  bones  in  our  monument."i 

After  the  first  edition  of  this  volume  had  come  from  the  press  I 
received  from  Comrade  John  O'Breiter,  a  copy  of  a  letter  written  to 
him  by  Lizabeth  A.  Turner,  who  gave  her  life  to  the  restoration  and 
preservation  of  the  Andersonville  prison-pen.  The  story  of  the  labors 
and  sacrifices  of  the  noble  women  who  stood  by  this  pathetic  work 
should  have  permanent  place  in  the  history  I  have  tried  to  give  of 
that  prison. 


NEW  BRITAIN,  CONN.,  Dec.  5,  1903. 
JOHN  O'BREITER,  ESQ., 

Lancaster,  Pa. 

Dear  Comrade:  I  was  much  pleased  to  receive  your  letter  of  November  26th. 
Yes,  there  is  much  to  be  done  to  make  Andersonville  all  we  hope  to  do  for  the 
place.  Could  you  have  seen  the  place  seven  years  ago  when  the  Belief  Corps  began 
work  there,  you  would  wonder  how  it  was  possible  for  them  to  accomplish  so 
much  as  they  have  done.  It  was  then  wild  land,  no  fences,  and  covered  with  scrub 
oaks  and  poisonous  vines.  The  swamp  was  entirely  impassable,  and  what  is  now 
a  good  road  from  outside  our  grounds  and  through  the  entrance  gate  to  the  main 
road  was  a  washout  and  a  gully.  You  can  have  no  idea  of  the  place  and  its  deso 
lation  when  the  women  took  hold  of  it,  and  no  one  but  women  would  have  had 
the  courage  to  try  to  improve  the  place  in  that  country  unless  they  had  a  mint  of 
money  at  their  disposal.  Our  caretaker  slept  for  three  years  with  a  pistol  under 
his  pillow  and  an  axe  under  his  bed;  his  life  was  threatened,  and  I  was  looked 
upon  as  a  woman  interloper;  but  we  plodded  on  quietly,  but  determined  to  keep 
the  ground  and  improve  it  in  memory  of  the  men  who  gave  life  and  health 
for  the  Union. 

We  have  become  respected,  and  Andersonville  is  now  the  show-place  of  the  two 
counties.  We  own  the  roadway  (100  feet  inside)  from  the  entrance  to  the  county 
road.  So  you  see  there  was  no  other  suitable  place  for  the  gate  but  at  the  en 
trance  to  our  property,  as  we  must  fence  in  the  land  to  keep  out  cattle  and 
hogs,  as  they  would  ruin  our  grounds.  Our  fences  and  gates  cost  us  over  seven 
hundred  dollars,  the  house  nineteen  hundred,  barn  three  hundred,  planting  the 

1  Witnesses  testified  that  bodies  were  buried  in  the  prison  pen  because  their  condition  made 
their  removal  to  the  cemetery  impossible.  Thus  is  confirmed  the  horrors  which  surrounded 
those  unhappy  prisoners. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  513 

prison-pen  to  Bermuda  grass  roots  two  hundred,  the  pavilion  over  the  spring  four 
teen  hundred,  and  so  on,  with  items  such  as  salary  of  caretaker,  mule  and  farming 
implements,  has  brought  the  cost  of  the  place  at  the  present  time  up  to  over 
$20,000.  Much  more,  I  suppose,  could  have  been  done,  only  I  refused  to  go  one 
cent  into  debt  for  anything.  Gate  and  other  markers  will  be  added  as  time  goes  on. 
Improvements  are  added  each  year  and  will  be  continued  so  as  to  make  the 
grounds  worthy  of  the  men  in  whose  memory  it  is  held  sacred. 

When  the  G.  A.  K.  of  the  Department  of  Georgia  bargained  for  the  prison-pen 
they  hoped  and  expected  that  the  Northern  posts  would  raise  a  fund  for  its  im 
provement  and  support.  This  was  not  and  could  not  be  accomplished.  They  then 
offered  it  free  of  expense  to  the  National  Government  (the  W.  E.  C.  had  paid  off 
the  mortgage  of  $700).  The  United  States  would  not  take  it  because  it  was  not 
a  battlefield,  when  in  reality  it  was  the  very  biggest  battlefield  of  the  Civil  War. 
It  was  offered  to  the  government  at  two  different  times  and  twice  offered  to 
the  National  G.  A.  R.  at  encampments.  Then  the  women  woke  up  and  took  the 
grounds,  buying  14  acres  more,  so  as  to  have  all  that  has  ever  been  used  for 
prison  purposes.  Every  well,  fort,  earthworks  and  rifle  pit  stands  just  as  it  did 
when  the  prisoners  of  the  Union  marched  out  of  the  stockade. 

The  original  owners  of  the  land  came  into  possession  of  it  after  a  four  years' 
lawsuit.  They  burnt  up  or  carried  away  most  of  the  stockade,  so  that  eight  years 
after  the  war  only  that  part  under  the  ground  remained.  Some  few  logs  are  still 
owned  by  the  colored  people  there. 

I  have  been  very  careful  not  to  have  one  tree  cut  from  any  of  the  (these  trees 
sprung  up  since  the  place  was  used  as  a  prison)  entrenchments  or  forts,  as  their 
roots  held  the  soil  in  place;  otherwise  they  would  soon  be  obliterated.  No  roads 
or  streets  of  any  kind  were  on  the  survey  or  defined  on  the  ground  when  it  came 
into  our  possession.  That  was  over  thirty  years  after  the  war;  it  was  wild  land. 
The  place  where  the  house  stands  and  the  forts  behind  and  back  of  the  house,  with 
the  parts  of  the  pen  where  the  flagpole  stands,  were  bought  by  the  W.  R.  C. 
after  it  came  into  their  hands. 

We  are  planting  pecan  trees  to  help  make  the  place  self-sustaining  and  shall 
establish  a  fund  for  the  perpetual  care  of  the  grounds.  We  should  have  accom 
plished  more  ere  this,  but  we  care  for  a  home  for  army  nurses  and  soldiers'  wives 
that  cost  us  from  $12,000  to  $14,000  a  year.  We  must  look  after  the  living  and 
then  perpetuate  the  memory  of  those  that  suffered  and  those  that  died  in  Ander- 
sonville  prison-pen. 

Thanking  you  for  your  kind  words  in  appreciation  of  what  is  being  done  and 
for  suggestions  for  marking  of  localities,  I  am  respectfully  yours, 

LIZABETH  A.  TURNER. 

A  PARTING  WORD   WITH    THE   READER. 

My  purpose  in  publishing  this  volume  is  to  rescue  the  salient  facts 
relating  to  one  of  the  most  startling  and  dramatic,  as  well  as  the  most 
melancholy  and  deplorable  chapters  in  the  history  of  the  War  of  the 
Rebellion,  and  to  refute  the  grossly  inaccurate,  not  to  say  false,  state- 


514  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

merits  to  be  found  engraved  upon  the  Wirz  monument  and  being 
widely  disseminated  as  the  truth  concerning  the  Andersonville  Rebel 
Prison. 

Having  been,  in  some  measure,  personally  responsible  for  the  con 
duct  of  the  trial  of  Wirz,  I  will  be  pardoned  if,  in  this  review,  I  have 
shown  more  the  spirit  of  the  advocate  than  of  the  judge.  A  society, 
respectable  in  numbers  and  in  its  personnel,  has  declared  that  Captain 
Wirz  was  innocent  of  the  charges  of  which  he  was  found  guilty,  and 
was  judicially  murdered,  and  it  seeks  to  fix  the  ultimate  responsibility 
for  the  Tragedy  of  Andersonville  upon  the  Federal  government, 

It  can  hardly  be  expected  that  under  such  circumstances  I  would 
publish  a  record  which  would  impeach  the  verdict  of  the  court  or 
would  justify  the  very  grave  charges  now  being  promulgated  in  rela 
tion  to  the  trial.  I  submit,  with  confidence,  to  the  unprejudiced  reader, 
whether  I  have  shown  unwarranted  feeling  and  whether  the  court 
drew  unsupported  conclusions  from  the  evidence  adduced  before  it. 

I  have  endeavored  to  fairly  state  the  evidence  on  both  sides,  and, 
while,  necessarily,  much  had  to  be  omitted  to  bring  the  book  within 
reasonable  compass,  I  am  not  conscious  of  having  suppressed  any  fact 
which  would  have  tended  to  strengthen  the  defense  of  the  accused,  nor 
am  I  conscious  of  having  in  any  wise  attempted  to  exaggerate  or  ob 
scure  any  of  the  important  issues.  I  think  it  will  be  found  that  nearly 
all  of  the  incriminating  evidence  is  found  in  the  testimony  and  official 
reports  of  rebel  witnesses,  and  upon  that  alone,  under  settled  rules 
of  criminal  law,  the  prisoner  was  proven  guilty  of  conduct  and  acts 
sufficient  to  justify  the  sentence  imposed  and  the  findings  of  a  con 
spiracy  to  destroy  Union  soldiers,  helpless  prisoners  of  war. 

It  has  been  said  to  me,  by  persons  for  whose  opinion  I  have  high 
regard,  that  it  was  unwise  to  re-open  the  question  of  the  Andersonville 
horror.  It  is  quite  likely  others  will  share  this  opinion,  and  they  may 
censure  me  for  unveiling  the  ghastly  scenes  of  suffering  and  death 
through  which  our  unhappy  prisoners  of  war  were  forced  to  pass.  Be 
it  so.  I  still  think  complete  justification  is  shown  in  the  earlier  pages 
of  this  record  for  placing  the  facts  before  the  world. 

That  differences  of  opinion  should  exist  as  to  the  wisdom  of  reviving 
the  facts  herein  narrated,  is  in  keeping  with  a  disposition  manifested 
by  the  thoughtless  to  break  down  the  distinction  which,  for  many  years 
has  been  recognized  between  the  services  rendered  in  defense  of  the 
Union  and  the  services  given  in  the  effort  to  destroy  the  Union. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  515 

Step  by  step  the  youth  are  being  led  to  regard  the  Eebellion  as  but 
a  venial  political  misadventure,  reflecting  no  great  discredit  upon 
those  who  were  engaged  in  it,  since  it  failed  of  its  purpose  and  since 
we  are  again  a  united  people. 

Gradually  the  public  mind  is  being  taught  to  accord  equal  honors, 
which  may  be  followed  by  equal  rewards  to  those  who  fought  to  dis 
solve  the  Union  of  States  and  those  who  fought  to  perpetuate  the 
Union  handed  down  to  us  by  the  Fathers  of  the  Republic.  In  a  flux 
of  good  feeling  we  are  putting  out  of  sight  the  underlying  issues  of 
the  great  conflict  of  arms  and  forgetting  the  stupendous  sacrifices 
which  were  made  and  the  precious  lives  which  were  lost  in  the  settle 
ment  of  those  issues.  Can  we  with  safety  do  this  ?  Can  we  as  a  nation 
overlook  the  motive  of  the  Rebellion  and  all  its  awful  consequences 
and  enter  upon  a  policy  of  bestowing  honors  and  rewards  upon  those 
who  were  engaged  in  that  rebellion  and  for  no  other  reason  than  that 
they  were  so  engaged  ?  That  they  were  admitted  to  full  participation 
in  the  affairs  of  government  naturally  followed  the  restoration  of  the 
Union.  But  this  concession  came  not  as  a  reward  for  their  military 
prowess  in  their  resistance  to  the  constituted  authorities  of  the  Union ; 
it  came  to  them  as  citizens  of  a  common  Union  who  had  laid  down  their 
arms  and  renewed  their  allegiance  to  the  Union.  As  citizens  they 
were  welcomed  but  as  military  heroes  the  government  can  never  with 
consistency  or  with  justice  bestow  upon  them  the  honors  and  rewards 
which  rightfully  belong  to  those  who  staked  their  lives  to  preserve 
the  nation.  Any  other  view  is  to  place  a  premium  on  disloyalty  and 
must  result  in  destroying  all  motive  for  supporting  the  government 
against  the  perils  of  rebellion. 

I  have  been  led  to  make  these  observations  in  view  of  the  fact  that 
a  bill  is  now  before  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  recommended  by 
the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  appropriating  $125,000  "for  the 
erection  of  a  Confederate  naval  monument  at  the  Vicksburg  National 
Military  Park  to  commemorate  the  services  of  the  Confederate  navy." 

The  Congressional  Record  of  July  18th,  1911,  contains  this  bill  as 
amended  and  reported  to  the  Senate  by  the  Committee  on  Military 
Affairs.  Section  1  reads : 

That  for  the  construction  of  a  memorial  to  cost  not  to  exceed  $125,000  com 
memorative  of  the  services  of  the  Confederate  Navy  on  the  Mississippi  Eiver  and  its 
tributaries  during  the  Civil  War  at  the  site  and  in  accordance  with  the  design 
approved  by  the  Secretary  of  War,  the  sum  of  $50,000  is  hereby  appropriated  out 
of  any  money  in  the  treasury  not  otherwise  apportioned. 


516  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

Senator  Williams  of  Mississippi,  having  charge  of  the  bill,  stated 
that  it  had  the  approval  of  the  Vicksburg  National  Military  Park 
Commission  and  the  recommendation  of  the  Secretary  of  War.  Senator 
Cummins  of  Iowa,  representing  a  State  that  sacrificed  hundreds  of 
lives  to  save  the  Union,  and  Senator  Works  of  California,  who  was 
himself  a  Union  soldier,  spoke  in  favor  of  the  bill  on  sentimental 
grounds,  apparently  neither  of  them  being  conscious  of  the  principle 
involved  nor  mindful  of  where  such  a  precedent  may  lead.  Senator 
Taylor  of  Tennessee  advocated  its  passage  from  the  standpoint  of  one 
who  sees  no  great  difference  in  the  motive  which  actuated  the  con 
tending  forces  during  the  war.  He  argued  that  as  the  South  had  con 
tributed  its  share  towards  the  erection  of  monuments  "to  commemorate 
the  deeds  of  the  brave  men  who  followed  the  Federal  flag,  it  was  not 
asking  too  much  to  build  a  monument  to  the  brave  men  who  met  them 
face  to  face  on  the  battle  field  and  upon  the  water."  He  said :  "Why 
not  build  it?  The  Southern  people  were  not  guilty  of  treason.  They 
fought  for  what  they  believed  was  right." 

But  two  Senators  raised  their  voices  in  opposition — Senator  Heyburn 
of  Idaho  and  Senator  Dixon  of  Montana.  Senator  Heyburn  spoke 
with  much  force.  He  showed  how  the  so-called  Confederacy  was 
regarded  in  the  eye  of  the  law  as  decided  by  the  United  States  Supreme 
Court,  citing  the  case.1 

It  is  well  for  us  to  remember  that  the  Confederacy,  as  an  association 
of  States,  never  had  any  recognition  by  our  government.  If  the  Con 
federacy  as  such  could  not  receive  recognition  by  the  Federal  Govern 
ment,  how  can  that  government  now  extend  recognition  in  the  highest 
and  most  honorable  form  it  can  be  bestowed,  to  those  who  fought  to 
establish  the  Confederacy  ?  In  the  case  cited  by  Senator  Heyburn  the 
Supreme  Court  said : 

The  rebellion  out  of  which  the  war  grew  was  without  any  legal  sanction.  In  the 
eye  of  the  law  it  had  the  same  properties  as  if  it  had  been  the  insurrection  of  a 
county  or  smaller  municipal  territory  against  the  State  to  which  it  belonged.  The 
proportion  and  duration  of  the  struggle  did  not  affect  its  character.  Nor  was 
there  a  rebel  government  de  facto  in  such  a  sense  as  to  give  any  legal  efficiency 
to  its  acts.  .  .  .  The  Union  of  the  States,  for  all  the  purposes  of  the  constitution, 
is  as  perfect  and  indissoluble  as  the  union  of  the  integral  parts  of  the  States 
themselves;  and  nothing  but  revolutionary  violence  can  in  either  case  destroy  the 
ties  which  hold  the  parts  together.  For  the  sake  of  humanity  certain  belligerent 

1  Hickman  vs.  Jones,  9  Wall,  197. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  517 

rights  were  conceded  to  the  insurgents  in  arms.  But  the  recognition  did  not  extend 
to  the  pretended  government  of  the  Confederacy.  .  .  .  The  Rebellion  was  simply 
an  armed  resistance  to  the  rightful  authority  of  the  sovereign.  Such  was  its 
character,  its  rise,  progress  and  downfall. 

The  view  taken  by  Senator  Dixon  cannot,  fail  to  deeply  impress 
one  who  will  give  a  moment's  thoughtful  consideration  to  the  question. 
I  quote : 

Mr.  President,  it  is  much  easier  at  times  to  vote  in  accordance  with  your  feelings 
of  sentiment  than  it  is  in  accordance  with  a  strict  sense  of  public  duty,  and  I 
confess  that  this  bill  raises  a  question  in  my  mind  which  makes  me  somewhat  halt 
between  two  opinions.  I  am  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Military  Affairs,  and 
this  is  the  first  time  I  knew  that  this  bill  had  ever  been  reported  to  the  Senate. 
That  probably  is  on  account  of  my  dereliction  of  duty  in  not  attending  at  all  times 
every  meeting  of  the  committee.  It  is  a  little  difficult  for  me  personally  to 
express  my  real  feelings  regarding  a  matter  of  this  kind.  I  am  a  Southerner  born, 
Mr.  President.  My  mother's  people  served  in  the  Confederate  Army,  while  my 
father's  kinsmen,  some  of  them,  served  in  the  Army  for  the  preservation  of  the 
Union.  I  think,  without  a  feeling  of  egotism,  that  I  can  therefore  look  on  the 
period  of  the  Civil  War  with  as  broad  and  catholic  a  spirit  as  any  patriotic 
American  citizen  can  do. 

Personally,  I  have  only  the  greatest  feeling  of  admiration  for  the  heroic  men 
who  laid  down  their  lives  for  the  cause  of  the  Confederacy.  I  doubt  whether  in 
all  history  there  is  any  more  superb  example  of  devotion  to  what  they  believed  to 
be  a  principle  than  that  which  inspired  the  people  of  the  South  from  1861  to  1865. 

At  the  same  time  the  principle  for  which  they  contended  was  eternally  wrong. 
It  was  one  of  the  questions  which  rise  from  a  great  disturbance  of  men's  minds, 
not  questioning  any  man's  feeling  of  right  or  wrong.  But  looking  back  45  years 
to  that  period,  we  know  that  the  principle  for  which  the  South  contended  was 
wrong,  that  it  would  have  been  fatal  to  the  very  existence  of  republican  institutions. 

After  paying  a  tribute  to  the  bravery  of  the  men  who  were  con 
nected  with  the  Confederate  Navy  on  the  Mississippi  River  and  its 
tributaries  and  expressing  a  willingness  to  personally  contribute  to 
the  cost  of  a  monument  to  their  memory,  he  said : 

But,  Mr.  President,  is  this  the  proper  time  for  us  to  appropriate  money  from 
the  Federal  Treasury  to  perpetuate  by  Federal  law  the  acts  of  those  who  sought 
to  destroy  the  very  Government  from  which  this  appropriation  is  sought?  .  .  . 
There  are  probably  half  a  million  Federal  soldiers  still  living.  I  doubt,  Mr. 
President,  the  wisdom  that  would  take  money  from  the  Federal  Treasury  at  this 
time  to  perpetuate  by  official  act  of  this  Government  during  the  life  time  of  the 
half  million  men  who  wore  the  blue  and  who  by  their  own  heroic  sacrifice  per 
petuated  this  Republic,  to  build  a  monument — I  read — "commemorative  of  the 
service  of  the  Confederate  Navy  on  the  Mississippi  River  and  its  tributaries 
during  the  civil  war."  I  do  not  believe  the  time  has  come  for  this  Government 
to  do  these  things  officially.  ...  I  do  not  believe  at  this  time  the  Government 


518  THE  TKAGEDY  OF  ANDEESONVILLE. 

should  entertain  this  plan,  which  is  merely  the  entering  wedge.  A  monument  at 
Vicksburg  to  the  Confederate  Navy  is  merely  a  prelude  to  a  hundred  other  appro 
priations  for  a  hundred  other  battlefields.  .  .  .  By  the  same  rule  of  action  and 
applying  the  same  yard  stick,  if  it  is  right  to  appropriate  $150,000  for  this 
monument  at  Vicksburg,  then  we  ought  also  to  dot  the  battle  fields  of  the  Civil 
War  with  bronze  monuments  to  the  men  who  died  in  the  cause  that  they  believed 
to  be  right.  With  this  feeling,  Mr.  President,  and  with  a  feeling  of  regret  that 
my  judgment  and  my  conscience  do  not  allow  me  to  vote  for  this  measure,  and 
wishing  only  to  make  my  own  sentiment  plain,  I  am  compelled  by  what  I  conceive 
to  be  my  duty  to  all  the  country  at  this  time  to  cast  my  vote  in  opposition  to  the 
appropriation. 

Upon  what  just  consideration  of  principle,  policy,  or  even  of  senti 
ment,  can  any  other  view  than  that  expressed  by  Senator  Dixon  be 
taken?  The  dangerous  precedent  condemned,  the  opening  wedge 
warned  against,  means  more  than  the  money  outlay  involved.  If  the 
comparatively  insignificant  services  of  the  Confederate  Navy  on  the 
Mississippi  River  call  for  such  recognition,  what  must  be  done  to 
adequately  signalize  the  appreciation  of  the  Federal  Government  for 
the  valiant  services  of  the  Confederate  Navy  on  the  high  seas  to  destroy 
American  shipping? 

But  the  greater  services  of  the  insurgents,  in  their  effort  to  divide 
and  destroy  the  Union,  were  on  the  hundreds  of  battlefields  and  these, 
as  Senator  Dixon  said,  must  if  the  Government  be  consistent  be  dotted 
with  monuments  erected  by  that  government  to  honor  those  who  fell 
while  fighting  to  destroy  it.  Nor  can  this  spirit  of  forgiveness,  this 
blotting  out  of  all  memory  of  stupendous  sacrifices  made  to  preserve 
the  Union,  halt  with  these  memorials. 

The  two  contending  forces  had  each  a  commander-in-chief.  The  day 
will  come,  if  the  policy  of  the  pending  Senate  bill  be  adopted,  when 
the  Nation  must  commemorate  the  services  of  Jefferson  Davis  as  the 
leader  of  the  Rebellion  with  the  same  evidences  of  gratitude  and 
appreciation  as  has  been  done  by  the  Nation  to  commemorate  the 
services  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  It  is  impossible  to  differentiate  a 
"National  Monument  to  Commemorate  the  Services  of  the  Confederate 
Navy  of  the  Mississippi  River  and  its  tributaries,"  from  like  monu 
ments  to  the  greater  naval  force  of  the  Confederacy,  to  the  armies  it 
assembled  and  indeed,  to  its  chosen  civil  and  military  leader.  To  the 
memory  of  all  alike  are  we  now  asked  to  do  homage. 

I  repeat,  this  policy  places  a  premium  on  disloyalty  and  is  destructive 
of  the  sentiment  of  patriotism — the  highest  motive  to  which  the  Nation 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  519 

can  appeal  in  times  of  threatened  danger  to  the  integrity  of  the  Re 
public. 

The  Senate  did  not  reach  a  vote  upon  the  measure.  Let  us  hope 
that  the  wiser  and  better  thought  of  its  friends  may  realize  its  im 
propriety  and  withhold  it. 

Singularly,  the  newspapers  have  not  discovered  this  insidious  piece 
of  legislation.  In  but  one  have  I  seen  it  commented  upon,  and  I  give 
it  as  stating  the  question  in  a  nutshell.  I  quote  from  the  Sacramento 
Bee  (California)  of  July  25,  1911: 

Senator  Heyburn's  remarks  in  opposing  an  appropriation  for  the  erection  of  a 
monument  in  honor  of  Confederate  soldiers  were  intemperate. 

Yet  the  justice  of  his  opposition  cannot  successfully  be  attacked.  It  is  not 
right  for  Congress  in  any  wise  to  honor  men  who  fought  through  four  bloody 
years  in  an  endeavor  to  destroy  the  Union. 

There  is  a  principle  involved  here  that  no  false  sentiment  should  be  allowed 
to  make  us  forget.  The  Confederate  dead  and  living  have  been  honored  in  many 
ways  since  the  Civil  War,  particularly  by  their  former  enemies,  whose  magnanimity 
has  been  very  great,  but  to  ask  the  Government  itself  to  commemorate  their 
assaults  upon  it,  however  brave,  is  carrying  sentiment  to  an  absurd  extreme. 

If  the  Southern  States  should  raise  the  money  for  a  monument  by  private 
subscription,  it  would  be  more  appropriate  and  representative. 

Fortunately,  since  these  pages  were  written  and  came  from  the 
press  the  senate  has  adjourned  without  action  on  this  bill.  It  appears 
that  this  proposed  measure  did  not  pass  unnoticed  by  the  newspaper 
press  of  the  country,  nor  did  it  escape  the  condemnation  of  some  of 
the  leading  journals,  which  doubtless  had  influence,  as  well  as  the 
lateness  of  the  session,  in  bringing  about  a  postponement  of  further 
consideration  of  the  bill. 

Many  posts  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  hastened  to  make 
known  their  unalterable  opposition  and  denouncing  a  policy  which 
would  impliedly  extend  governmental  recognition  and  tacit  approval 
of  facts  which  the  government  once  characterized  as  rebellious  and 
treasonable,  and  which  had  for  their  object  the  overthrow  of  the 
government  itself. 

Nor  is  the  principle  involved  in  the  least  changed  by  the  proposal  to 
strike  out  the  word  "service"  and  insert  the  words  "courage  and  con 
stancy."  Why  should  our  government  reward  the  "courage  and  con 
stancy"  of  Confederate  soldiers  and  sailors  in  view  of  the  admitted 
fact  that  they  exhibited  those  attributes  in  an  uncompromising  effort 
to  destroy  the  government?  It  is  impossible  to  distinguish  in  its  ulti- 


520  THE  TEAGEDY  OF  ANDERSONVILLE. 

mate  meaning  and  effect  the  commemoration  of  the  "courage  and  con 
stancy"  with  which  the  rebel  soldiers  and  sailors  fought,  from  like 
tribute  to  the  "service"  in  which  they  were  engaged  and  to  which 
they  solemnly  pledged  their  lives. 

"Such  journals  as  the  New  York  Times,  Tribune,  Sun  and  Evening 
Post,  and  the  Detroit  Journal,  declare  that  there  is  no  possible  justi 
fication  or  excuse  for  the  proposed  appropriation.  That  it  should  be 
'seriously  urged/  observes  the  Boston  Herald,  advertises  Uncle  Sam 
as  an  'easy  mark.'  The  Boanoke  (Va.)  Times  asserts  that  'no  such 
appropriation  should  be  made,  and  no  such  monument  should  be  built 
by  the  government/  because,  'if  we  Southern  people  want  a  monument 
to  the  Confederate  navy,  we  should  go  down  in  our  own  pockets  and 
build  it  ourselves.'  "  x 

Let  the  Blue  and  the  Gray  fraternize,  as  they  have  ever  since  the 
war.  Let  them  rejoice  that  we  are  a  united  people.  But  do  not  let  the 
government  be  called  upon  to  give  its  official  sanction  to  the  rebellion. 

While  the  arrangements  for  this  Vicksburg  re-union  were  being 
made,  the  following  message,  presumably  sent  by  the  Associated  Press 
agent,  appeared  in  the  newspapers  of  the  country : 

MEMPHIS,  Tenn.,  Sept.  4. — The  stars  and  stripes  and  stars  and  bars  will  be 
displayed  on  an  equal  plane,  neither  above  the  other,  in  the  coming  first  national 
Blue  and  the  Gray  reunion  to  be  held  in  Memphis,  beginning  September  27th.  The 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  and  local  Republicans,  decided  that  throughout  the 
decorations  on  all  floats  the  colors  should  be  entwined  and  equal  prominence  given 
to  both. 

In  the  light  of  the  proposed  appropriation  by  Congress  such  an  ar 
rangement  was  perfectly  logical  and  every  way  consistent.  But  does 
it  not  emphasize  the  significance  of  the  pending  bill?  What  is  a  flag 
but  the  representative  of  an  idea  or  principle  or  cause  ?  In  itself  it  has 
no  meaning,  but  when  used  to  represent  a  principle  or  a  just  cause 
men  will  face  certain  death  in  its  defense.  All  that  is  precious  in  our 
history  clusters  around  the  American  flag  as  the  symbol  of  our 
country's  greatness  and  glory.  Let  it  not  be  dishonored  by  being 
entwined  with  a  flag  which  typified  rebellion  and  treason ;  "which  stood 
for  an  abortive  effort  to  destroy  the  Union;  and  which,  if  it  means 
anything  now,  must  mean  what  it  ever  has  signified.  The  Confederate 
flag  can  serve  no  other  or  higher  office  at  this  time  than  to  inspire  in  the 
minds  of  the  youth  of  the  South  a  belief  that  the  cause  for  which  it 
stood  was  grounded  in  justice  and  righteousness,  whose  memory  must 
not  be  permitted  to  fade.  This  blending  of  the  "Stars  and  Bars"  with 

1  Literary  Digest,  Aug.  5,  1911. 


ANDERSONVILLE  CEMETERY,  AND  CONCLUSION.  521 

the  "Stars  and  Stripes,"  this  display  "on  an  equal  plane,"  is  but 
another  step  towards  the  obliteration,  not  only  of  all  distinction  be 
tween  those  who  fought  to  preserve  the  Union  and  those  who  fought 
to  destroy  the  Union,  but  it  is  a  concession  that  there  was  nothing  in 
the  rebellion  which  posterity  may  condemn. 

Secretary  of  State  John  Hay,  in  his  eulogy  upon  the  life  and  services 
of  President  McKinley,  delivered  at  the  joint  session  of  the  senate 
and  house  of  representatives,  said: 

It  is  easy  for  partisanship  to  say  that  the  one  side  was  right  and  that  the 
other  was  wrong.  It  is  still  easier  for  an  indolent  magnanimity  to  say  that  both 
were  right.  Perhaps  in  the  wider  view  of  ethics  one  is  always  right  to  follow 
his  conscience,  though  it  lead  him  to  disaster  or  death.  But  history  is  inexorable. 
She  takes  no  account  of  sentiment  and  intention,  and  in  her  cold  and  luminous 
eyes  that  side  is  right  which  fights  in  harmony  with  the  stars  in  their  courses. 
The  men  are  right  through  whose  efforts  and  struggles  the  world  is  helped  onward 
and  humanity  is  moved  to  a  higher  level  and  a  brighter  day. 

If,  notwithstanding  the  opinion  of  those  who  would  throw  the  cloak 
of  oblivion  over  the  scenes  in  this  volume  depicted,  and  would  obliterate 
all  distinction  between  the  loyal  defenders  of  the  flag  and  those  who 
fought  to  dishonor  it,  I  shall  have  quickened  a  sense  of  gratitude 
towards  the  armies  of  the  Union  and  particularly  those  who  suffered 
and  died  in  Southern  prisons,  it  will  compensate  me  for  all  the  labor 
involved  and  will  sustain  me  under  adverse  criticism. 

In  my  belief  the  loftiest  heroism  and  the  most  self-sacrificing  patriot 
ism  exhibited  throughout  the  Civil  War  are  to  be  found  in  the  annals 
of  rebel  prisons  among  the  suffering  and  dying  Union  soldiers.  Im 
pelled  by  a  sense  of  the  crime  of  which  they  were  the  innocent  victims, 
and  in  the  discharge  of  a  small  part  of  the  obligation  under  which,  as 
an  American  citizen  and  a  fellow  soldier,  they  have  placed  me,  this 
brief  epitome  of  their  heroic  sacrifices  is  now  submitted  by 

THE  AUTHOR. 


INDEX 


Adams,  Abbie  A.,  506. 

Allcock,  Brevet  Colonel,  member  of  Military 
Court,  31. 

Andersonville,  Ga.,  location  healthy;  pro 
visions  abundant  in  region;  yet  prisoners 
starved  to  death  by  thousands,  20. 

Andersonville  Cemetery,  474. 

Andersonville,  condition  of;  its  horrors  well 
known  by  Richmond  authorities,  65. 

Andersonville,  why  chosen,  219. 

Andersonville  Prison  Board;  Woman's  Re 
lief  Corps;  work  of,  502-513. 

Area  of  the  prison;  Col.  Chandler  estimated 
at  one  time  six  square  feet  to  man;  actual 
space  at  best  27  square  feet  or  3  by  9  feet 
for  each  man,  66,  140. 

Argument  on  special  pleas  of  accused,  37. 

Armstrong,  James — Ohio  Reg. — Robbed  by 
James  Duncan  of  picture  of  mother,  288. 

Atlanta  Constitution,   Report  by,  509. 

Atwater,  Dorence,  kept  death  register;  report 
to  relatives  of  dead — Died  in  San  Fran 
cisco  and  body  taken  to  Island  of  Tahiti, 
489-493- 

Augur,  Major-General  C.  C.,  executed  sen 
tence  of  death  and  buried  Wirz,  436. 


Bragg,  Brigadier-General  E.  S.,  member  of 
court:  relieved  on  account  of  illness  be 
fore  verdict,  31. 

Bread,  made  of  unsifted  cornmeal  ground 
with  husks  on,  underdone  and  shortened 
with  flies,  217. 

Brooklyn  Eagle,  anti-administration  paper, 
324-325. 

Brown,  D.  Wolfe,  reporter  at  the  trial  for 
court,  32. 

Bryant,  James  M.,  superintendent  cemetery, 
says  markings  fairly  correct;  letters  of 
interest  on  several  subjects,  493. 

Bucked:  Gagged:  Whipped:  for  small  provo 
cation;  inhuman  punishment,  250,  256, 
261,  276. 

Buckingham,  Hiram,  origin  of  Providence 
Spring,  502. 

Burying  the  dead  in  trenches;  many  bodies 
stark  naked;  no  coffins  used;  no  boards  to 
protect  bodies;  laid  on  ground  and  covered 
with  earth,  215,  256,  265,  281,  282. 

Burt,  Brigadier-General,  U.  S.  A.,  com 
manded  colored  troops;  gives  interesting 
account  of  their  services,  448. 

Butler,  General  Benj.  F.,  on  exchange  of 
prisoners,  388,  441,  458-463. 


Baker,  O.   S.,  one  of  Wirz's  attorneys,  36. 

Bakery,  the,  slow  in  completing  it;  wholly 
inadequate,  60,  67. 

Ball,  Isabel  Worrell,   510. 

Ball  and  chain,  many  witnesses  testified  to 
use  of  for  trivial  offenses,  262,  276. 

Ballier,  Brevet  Brigadier-General  John  F., 
member  of  military  court,  31. 

Barton,  Miss  Clara,  report  on  cemetery; 
marking  of  graves;  condition  of  prison 
grounds;  evidences  of  gross  cruelty  and 
mismanagement,  480-489. 

Baxter,  Alice,  monument  erected  to  Wirz's 
memory;  why  erected,  15,  17. 

Bed-sacks  and  sheets  on  hand  and  undistrib 
uted,  208. 

Belford  Magazine,  article  by  Jefferson  Davis, 
defends  management;  declares  Wirz  died 
a  martyr;  illegally  convicted;  Davis's 
article  answered,  19,  25,  356. 

Berry,  Jennie  Iowa,  507. 

Bliss,  Allaseba  M.,   505,  510. 

Bicknell,  J.  T.,   510. 

Bloodhounds,  the;  court  found  that  ferocious 
dogs  were  used  and  caused  death,  25,  35, 
64,  119,  124,  242,  244,  249,  250,  251,  260, 
262,  275. 

Bodies  of  our  dead  were  frequently  used  "in 
the  interest  of  science"  and  identity  de 
stroyed,  100. 

Bradley,  Major  Thomas  W.  (New  York 
Rep.),  promoted  bill  for  improvement  of 
prison  grounds,  503. 


Call,  Lewis  W.,  508. 

Cameron,  Simon,  Secretary  of  War,  refused 
to  return  negroes  to  slavery;  policy  of 
government  pointed  out  regarding  negroes 
and  slaves,  442,  445. 

Campbell,  J.  A.,  rebel  Secretary  of  War; 
action  on  Col.  Chandler's  report;  endorse 
ment,  70,  412. 

Cartel,  suspension  of,  violated  by  confeder 
acy;  subject  thoroughly  discussed  in  chap 
ter  XV,  438-473. 

Causes  of  death,  chief;  every  form  of  cruel 
treatment;  starvation  most  potent,  94,  120, 
121,  125-132. 

Chandler,  Col.  D.  T.,  Rebel  Inspector-Gen 
eral,  reports  condition  of  prison  and  prison 
ers;  six  square  feet  to  man;  Gen.  Winder's 
inhuman  suggestion  for  relief  of;  import 
ant  document,  66,  388. 

Chain  gang,  in  constant  use  in  crudest  form, 
244,  251,  253,  258,  266,  272,  279. 

Charge  of  murder,  evidence  chapter  XII, 
333;  comments  on,  chapter  XIII,  354. 

Charges  and  specifications  on  trial,  32. 

"Chickamauga"  ordered  shot  by  Wirz,  260, 
270,  320. 

Chilton,  Colonel  R.  W.,  endorsement  Chand 
ler's  report,  70,  412. 

Chipman,  N.  P.,  frontispiece,  31,  35,  36,  354, 
387,  429,  464. 

Civil  War,  biggest  battle  in,   512. 

Clay,  Col.  H.  L.,  Rebel  Assistant  Adjutant- 
General,  endorsement  on  Chandler  report, 
61. 


524 


INDEX— CONTINUED. 


Clothing  from  friends  appropriated  by  officers 
within  the  stockade,  162. 

Clothing  and  provisions  from  friends,   161. 

Clothing,  received  from  fellow  prisoners  by 
poisoning  them,  85. 

Clothing  of  the  dead  was  immediately  appro 
priated  by  the  other  prisoners,  181. 

Clavereul,  Father  (diary),  reveals  climax  of 
horrors,  198. 

Cobb,  General  Howell,  communication,  54; 
letter  of,  suggests  necessary  improvement 
of  prison,  58. 

Commission  for  trial  of  Wirz,  members  of, 
3i- 

Comparison  of  rebel  prisons  with  federal 
prisons;  important  statistics;  photos  com 
pared,  371-375- 

Compilation  of  deaths,   381-382. 

Conditions  known   at   Richmond,   360. 

"Confederate  Veteran"  defends  Wirz  monu 
ment  as  memorial  of  noble  life,  16. 

Confederate  authorities  had  full  knowledge 
of  facts,  65. 

Connecticut  monument  in   cemetery,    450. 

Congressional  Record,  July  18,  1911,  bill  for 
confederate  monument  defeated,  519. 

Conspiracy,  the,  to  destroy  prisoners  far- 
reaching  and  involved  high  officials,  363. 

Conspiracy  charge,  the,  400. 

Cook-house  very  filthy,  217. 

Corn  bread  unfit  for  use,   106. 

Corn  meal:  corn  and  cob  ground  together: 
often  wet  and  mouldy:  279. 

Crane,  Mrs.  M.  C.,  National  Chairman 
Ladies  of  G.  A.  R.  dedication  of  Womans' 
Relief  Corps  tablet,  498,  510. 

Cruelties   practiced  towards   prisoners,   420. 

Cummins,  Albert  B.,  U.  S.  Senator,  Iowa, 
favored  monument  to  confederate  dead  by 
the  government,  516. 

Cutler,  A.  D.,  conditions  at  Fort  Delaware 
prison,  380. 


Daily  record  of  deaths,  375. 

"Damned  Yankees — let  them  die,"  said  Gen 
eral  Winder;  refused  them  donated  pro 
visions,  152. 

Davis,  Jefferson,  n,  17,  19,  22,  23,  25,  28,  35, 
43,  71,  100,  193,  219,  356,  363,  414,  451-2; 
defends  prison  management;  says  Wirz 
victim  of  suppressed  testimony;  only  fox 
hounds  to  track  prisoners;  Wirz  verdict  an 
•indictment  of  Davis;  prison  condition 
known  to  him;  portrait  of;  Andersonville 
chosen  in  region  of  plenty. 

Daughters  of  Confederacy,   12,   13,    15. 

Davis,  Gen.  Geo.  B.,  Judge  Advocate-Gen 
eral,  503. 

Dead  the,  67;  "cords  of  them,"  169;  "piled 
up  like  hogs,"  265. 

Dead,  the,  one  man  died  and  lay  so  long  that 
he  had  to  be  buried  where  he  died,  177. 

"Dead  house,"  the,   200. 

Dead  house  (Dr.  Jones),  362;  corpses  lay  on 
bare  ground  covered  with  filth  and  vermin. 

Dead-line,  the,  how  originated;  built  also 
around  hospital;  man  shot  at  dead  line 
without  warning;  insufficiently  constructed; 
to  touch  it  meant  death;  furloughs  given 
for  shooting  prisoners  on;  random  shots 
killed  innocent  men  not  near,  57,  137,  140, 
144,  165,  248,  258,  261,  268,  274,  283,  286, 
347- 


Death   and  disease,  consolidated  report,   93. 

Deaths  at  Andersonville  Prison,  13,  171,  369; 
Wirz  monument  insult  to  dead;  dead 
sought  for  dissection;  caused  in  innumer 
able  ways  as  shown  by  witnesses. 

Deaths,   record  of,  88. 

Debris:  all  from  30,000  human  beings  passed 
within  few  yards  of  the  so-called  hospital, 
no. 

Deleware  Fort,  prison  conditions  at,  380. 

Detachments,  166;  prisoners  divided  in  three 
squads  of  90  each,  270  one  detachment. 

Diarrhoea  the  general  complaint,  202,  253. 

Diet  more  important  than  medicine;  medicine 
useless  without  proper  food,  114. 

Diseases;  diarrhoea,  fevers,  ulcers,  88,  114, 
172;  scurvy  in  variety  of  dreadful  forms; 
ulcers  slowly  eating  away  flesh  and  tissues 
down  to  bones. 

Diseases:  mosquito  bites  and  smallest  abra 
sion  of  skin  caused  gangrene  and  death,  89. 

Diseases,  report  concerning,  88,  108. 

Disposition  of  the  dead,  91;  left  exposed  for 
hours  covered  with  filth  and  vermin,  171; 
dead  in  midst  of  dying;  many  post  mor- 
tems;  Dr.  Jones's  report,  81-99. 

Dividing  squad  rations  by  numbers,    167. 

Dix,  General  John  A.,  442. 

Dixon,  Joseph  M.,  U.  S.  Senator,  Montana; 
"The  principle  for  which  the  South  con 
tended  was  wrong  and  would  have  been 
fatal  to  the  very  existence  of  republican 
institutions,"  516. 

Doane,  Scott,  conditions  at  Johnson's  Island 
prison  fully  described,  379. 

Doctors  and  surgeons  insufficient,   103. 

Duncan,  James,  acts  of  extreme  cruelty  by, 
287. 


Eldridge,    Chief    Surgeon    E.    T.,    report,    60; 

recommends   prison   improvement. 
Emaciation,    starvation,    wasting    away,    none 

among  the  confederate  soldiers,   207;   they 

had  food  and  fuel  in  plenty  and  shelter. 
Exchange  of  prisoners,  448;  refused  to  white 

officers    and    negro    troops,    see   chapter    on 

Exchange,    XV. 
Excrements  of  sick  and  well,   91;   handled  in 

disgusting  and  unsanitary  way. 
Execution  and  burial  of  Wirz,  436. 


Facts  and  results  of  trial,  30;  sources  as 
shown  in  this  volume. 

Fairclough,  Richard,  "I  die  from  sheer  starv 
ation,"  339;  last  request  that  his  wife 
might  not  know  how  he  suffered. 

Fessenden,  Brigadier-General  Francis,  mem 
ber  of  military  court,  31. 

Findings  and  sentence,  428. 

Findings  of   Commission,   35. 

Findings  of  the  court  could  rest  upon  rebel 
testimony,  298. 

Filth   six  inches   deep,  262. 

Fitzgerald  Post,  G.  A.  R.  and  Auxiliaries, 
Georgia,  510. 

Food  unfit  for  human  beings,  230. 

Food,  undigested,  that  had  passed  through 
men's  bodies,  258,  263. 

Food,  clothing,  shelter  and  soap,  66. 

"Had  to  buy  food  or  we  would  have  starved," 
180. 


INDEX— CONTINUED. 


525 


Food  that  had  passed  through  men's  bodies, 
undigested,  eaten,  263. 

Food  not  fit  to  eat,  232. 

Food  and  clothing  contributed  by  Methodist 
ladies  refused  by  General  Winder,  152. 

Food:  "I  frequently  saw  men  hunting 
around  the  sinks  for  food  that  had  once 
passed  through  men's  bodies  undigested," 
177. 

Fort  Deleware  Prison,  conditions  at,  380. 

Foraker,  Hon.  Joseph  B.,  503;  aided  in 
passing  bill  for  acquiring  prison  grounds. 

Fremont,  General  John  C.,  439;  issued  order, 
revoked  by  President  Lincoln,  that  arms- 
bearing  citizens  be  shot. 

"Frenchy  (Frado),  escaped  seven  times  and 
brought  back  by  dogs,  328. 

Frightful  conditions;  a  starving  ration  in 
duced  endless  catalogue  of  diseases;  incur 
able  gangrene  readily  induced  by;  hospital 
reeking  with  miasmatic  and  gangrenous 
effluvia,  108,  109,  no,  130. 

Fuller,  Sarah  E.,  506. 


Gangrene,  frequent  cause  of  death,  244,  361. 

Geary,  Brevet  Major-General  J.  W.,  member 
of  military  court,  31. 

Gangrenous  sores  filled  with  maggots  and 
flies,  which  men  were  too  weak  to  fight  off, 
168. 

General  orders,  about  number  of  prisoners 
and  other  regulations,  came  from  Rich 
mond,  211. 

"General  summary":  sick  and  dead  by  Dr. 
Jones,  March,  1864,  to  August,  inclusive, 
93- 

Georgia  good  country  for  corn  and  wheat, 
157;  provisions  available  and  in  abundance. 

Gilman,  Mary  L.,  504. 

Grinnell,  Emma  C.,  510. 

Grant,  General  U.  S.,  440;  on  exchange  of 
prisoners,  461,  462;  rebels  put  paroled 
prisoners  in  field;  refused  to  exchange 
colored  soldiers  and  their  white  officers. 

Grave  of  Wirz,  50;  body  now  in  Olivet 
Cemetery,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Graveyard,  no  care  of  by  the  rebel  govern 
ment,  294;  bodies  exposed:  dead  buried  in 
long  trenches  side  by  side  like  sardines  and 
unprotected,  and  covered  with  earth. 

Guard  of  the  prison,   173. 

Guards,  the,  were  ordered  to  shoot  any  man 
attempting  to  speak  to  them,  278. 

Guards  rewarded  for  killing  persons  at  dead 
line,  356. 


Hayes,    Henry    G.    (reporter    for    the   court), 

32. 
Hay,    Hon.    John,    eulogy    of    President    Mc- 

Kinley,   521. 

Heyburn,  Welden  B.,  U.    S.   Senator,  Idaho: 
"The  rebellion  was  an  armed  resistance  to 
rightful  authorities,"  516. 
Heads  of   departments  at  Richmond  warned, 

78. 

Hinks,  William  (reporter  for  the  court),  32. 
Hitchcock,  General  A.  E.,  report  of  to  Sec 
retary  of  War  giving  full  history  of  con 
troversy  concerning  exchange  of  prisoners, 
449;  also  number  of  deaths  in  prison  on 
both  sides,  370. 

Hoffman,  A.  V.  H.,  in  San  Francisco  Chron 
icle,  May  28,  1911;  492;  vindication  of 
Dorence  Atwater;  his  death. 
Holt,  J.,  Judge  Advocate-General,  27;  argu 
ment  of,  37;  review  of  trial  and  verdict  of 
court,  429. 

Hosmer,  Major  A.  A.,  Assistant  Judge  Advo 
cate,  32;  photo  of,  36;  assignment  to  duty. 
Hospital,    2,000   patients   crowded  together   in 
small  and  almost  useless  tents  on  less  than 
three  acres  of  ground,  no. 
Men  were  not  taken  to  the  hospital  until   it 
was  quite  certain  they  would  not  live  more 
than  a  week,   174. 
Hopkins,  Col.  Thos.  S.,  503. 
Hospital,   the  general,   was   outside  the   stock 
ade,  so  planned  as  aided  death  of  patients, 
171,   361. 
Hospital   a  rough   enclosure  of  plank  fences, 

207. 

Hospital,  men  in  had  ball  and  chain  to  their 
ankles,  though  in  dying  condition  and  un 
able  to  escape,  182. 

Hospital,  the,   Dr.  Jones,  let  him  speak,  361. 
Hospital  outside  of  stockade,  62. 
Hospital    condition,    90;    see    Dr.    Jones's    re 
port;    violative    of   decency;    shockingly   in 
human,   90. 
Hughes,    Denver    and    Peck,    Wirz    attorneys 

who   withdrew  from  case,   36. 
Hull,   John  A.   T.,   chairman   of  House   Com 
mittee,    gave    support    to    Women's    Relief 
Corps  in  matter  of  cemetery  improvement, 
503- 

Hunt,  Samuel  F.,  through  him  the  Robert 
Ould  letter  obtained;  very  important  doc 
ument,  388. 

Hunter,  Major-General  D.,  letter  to  Stanton, 
explains  why  he  mustered  negroes  into 
military  service,  446. 

Hunting  for  fuel  in  swamp  saturated  with 
human  excrement,  80. 


H 

Hall,  Major  W.  Carvel,  letter  from  Confed 
erate  records,  79;  denies  that  he  ever  said 
that  rebel  prisoners  were  on  a  par  with 
Federal  prisoners. 

Halleck,  General  H.  W.,  on  exchange  of  pris 
oners,  458;  excluding  negroes  from  Union 
camps,  439. 

Handcuffing  Wirz  to  prevent  his  suicide,  334. 

Hanging  of  the  six  raiders,   194. 

Hanging  of  six  prisoners  for  theft  and  mur 
der,  85. 

Harris,  Belle  C.,  National  President  Womans' 
Relief  Coips,  dedication  of  tablet,  510. 

Harris,   Martin  S.,  and  New   York  News,  22. 


Idiotic,  prisoners  became,  173. 

Illinois  monument,  437. 

Illustrations,  list  of,  5. 

Imboden,  General,  disingenuous  use  of  state 
ment  by  Davis,  22. 

Indiana,  monument  in  cemetery,  337. 

Initial  movement  for  the  Wirz  monument, 
Daughters  of  the  Confederacy  seek  to  vin 
dicate  Wirz,  12. 

Injunction  to  abate  the  prison  nuisance,   54. 

Inscriptions  on  the  Wirz  monument  shown 
to  be  falsification  of  history,  n  et  seq. 

Inscriptions  on  the  state  monuments  within 
the  cemetery  and  prison  grounds;  many 
noble  and  patriotic  sentiments;  eloquent 
tributes  to  dead,  486. 


IXDEX— COXTIXTED. 


of  the 


d  went,   bat  no 
grew  worse,  217. 

Iowa,  monument  in  cemetery,  373- 

Ironed,  oatl  and 


Dr.     Joseph,     important     report    on 
B   of    death;    horrible    condi- 

*•&&*_!  -*.  W~d 

L  — .  i      ,          -n  •  »  JL^^^^  ^£  «fc^  *WM* 

vita  Anocrsnonue,  37* »  pnoros  ox  tne  rwo 

aim's  Isiand   1.5    per  cent  per  month;    at 
AnAenmmDe.  8^  per  month,  372. 

Imrnmrn*.   Pimial  Joseph   EL.    Wirz   not  in- 

^  clmM  »  hm  amicmiu,  jfc. 

JmjjBrtfani  ofAe  adfitary  cmmammim  B«Bbr 

mmm    that    ^^mLSim    of    Fremont 


R.   T.   H.,  ckief  of  Confederate  War 


5x1- 


T«mu  iT    croelry  whipped  on  bare  bade,   266. 
Law.  the,  of  Nations,  as  applicable  to  case, 

Let^Geoeral    R.    IL,    omitted    from    list    of 
-erased    to    kave    negro 
of  war,   458, 


Lee,  General  Stephen  D.,  16. 

Letters:  »  i  Itten  to  Wrrz  received  no  answer, 


General  Fre- 


Picaidml  Daris,  19. 
Nation,  New  York, 


of  fifty  carloads  and 

2. 
to   get   for   confederate 


McCtare*s  Magazine,  September,  1910,  Gold- 
win  Smith  condemns  Andersonville,  190. 
McElroy,    Colonel   John,   statement   of   facts, 

r,  466. 

tery,  303. 

McClellan,  Georgia  Wade,  504- 

Mechanics  in  stockade,  2,500  and  sufficient 
lumber,  207. 

Medical  attendance  and  medicine,  wholly  in 
adequate.  66. 

Medical  officer,  one  to  2,000  sick  in  stock 
ade;  at  least  twenty  needed,  87. 

Military  Commission,  photographs  of,  29. 

Mitigating  circumstances,  no,  nor  extenuating 
facts,  219. 

Money,  about  one-third  of  prisoners  had 
money,  228. 

Monument  to  Lizabeth  A.  Turner  in  prison 
park;  chief  worker  in  restoring  prison 
gwmrtds,  476. 

Monuments  erected  by:  Connecticut,  450; 
Illinois,  437;  Indiana,  337;  Iowa,  373; 
Maine,  466;  Massachusetts,  303;  Michigan, 
329;  New  Jersey.  367:  Ohio,  394:  Pennsyl 
vania,  418;  Rhode  Island,  357;  Wisconsin, 
345.  Noble  in  design  and  bearing  appro 
priate  inscriptions. 

Moore,  Captain  Jas.  M-,  report  on  condition 
of  prison  and  cemetery;  also  indication  of 
cruel  treatment  of  prisoners,  475. 

Moore,  Confederate  Surgeon-General  S.  P., 
assigning  Dr.  Jones,  82,  413. 

Mortality  great,  causes  of,  94,   101. 

Mortality,  its  extent  not  suspected,  27. 

Mortuary  statistics,  360-372. 

Motive  for  writing  this  history.  7,  n. 

Mott.  Brevet  Major-General  G.,  member  of 
military  court,  31. 

Movement  in  the  U.  S.  Senate  for  an  appro 
priation  for  a  confederate  naval  monument, 
515- 

Mud  at  times  foot  deep,  150. 

Murder  in  violation  of  the  laws  of  war,  193. 

Maimus  among  prisoners  frequent,   116. 

N 

Naked,  many  in  the  stockade,  147. 

National  cemeteries,  84  in  United  States  in 
which  are  buried  350.000  soldiers,  474- 

WlHTir*"1  encampment  G.  A.  R-.  the  44th.  let 
ter  from  officers  urging  publication  of  this 
volume,  8. 

Negative  testimony  cannot  neutralize  testi 
mony  of  eye  witnesses,  365. 

New  York  Nevs,  letter  to,  234,  322. 

New  Jersey,  monument  in  cemetery,  367. 

Nev  York  Erening  Post,  colored  troops  took 
important  part  in  war,  448. 

North  American  Review.  Davis's  Belford 
article  first  referred  to.  was  found  by 
editor  and  withdrawn  by  Davis,  19. 

North.  Mary  M.,  504- 

Number   of   prisoners,    84;     35,000  a 
140. 


--  - 
Marshall,     Mrs. 

Woman's  Refief  Corps 
"Maggots    15    to    20    incl 

sarface  of  swamp,   182. 


Objections  by  the  prisoner,  exposed  and  re 
futed,  3°7- 
Obrieter,  John,  letter  to  by  Lizabeth  Turner, 

Ohio,  monument  in  cemetery,  394. 
Order  convening  the  trial  court,  31. 


INDEX— CONTINUED. 


Order  of  the  President,  approves  finding*  of 
the  court,  436. 

Organization  of  the  court,  30. 

Ould,  Ro.,  on  exchange  of  prisoners,  23,  388, 
457;  discharged  as  witness  at  request  of 
Wirz  attorneys;  said  got  rid  of  a  lot  of 
miserable  wretches  in  exchange  for  men 
in  fine  condition  and  refused  exchange  on 
equal  terms. 

Ovens  were  too  small;  never  enlarged  to 
meet  necessities,  217. 


Parting  word  with  the  reader;  motive  of  the 

volume,  513. 

Pathological  investigation,  80,  82,  414. 
Pelot,  J.  Crews,  surgeon,  report  of;  hospital 

deficient  in  every  essential,    106. 
Pennsylvania,  monument  in  cemetery,  418. 
Percentage    of    deaths;    mortality    ratio    pro 
gressive,  63. 

Personnel  of  the  court,  given  by  Hauil 
Stibbs,  one  of  the  members  of  the  court, 
386. 

Petition  for  exchange,  314. 
Plan  of  stockade,  56. 
Pleas  interposed,  36. 

Post  mortems,  conducted  for  benefit  of  Con 
federate  medical  department,  415. 
Preface,  7. 
Prendiville.  Morris,  7th  Indiana  Reg.,  Co.  H, 

shot  in  his  tent  while  asleep,  287. 
Prescriptions  by  numbered  formulas,  contents 

unknown,  123. 

Prison   conditions   described  by  confederates, 
testimony   of   many   witnesses;    CoL    Chan 
dler  and  other  rebel  officers,  65,  70. 
Prison,  description  of,  Jones,  83. 
Prisoners,  number  of,  Jones,  84- 
Prison  pen,   its  terrors,  converted  good  men 

into  degenerates,  358. 

Prison  and  surroundings  sketched  by  a  pris 
oner,  245. 
Prisoner  allowed   himself  to  be  put  into  the 

dead-wagon  for  purpose  of  escaping,  254. 
Prisoner  blacked  himself,  tried  to  escape  as  a 

negro.  266. 
Prisoners,   sick  and   well,   murdered  at   night 

for  scant  supplies  of  food  a.nd  money,  85. 
Prisoners  paid  money  to  be  the  first  taken  out 

for  exchange.  265. 
Prisoners,  many  wore  nothing  but  a  shirt  and 

pair  of  drawers,  267. 
Prisoners   in  utter  destitution,  lying  in  their 

own  filth,  1 68. 
Prisoners.  33,ooo  to  36,000,  covered  the  whole 

space  when  they  lay  down,  246. 
Prisoners,  number  of  33.000,  228. 
Prisoners  wandered  about  the  stockade,  dazed 
and   idiotic,    and   often   committed   suicide, 
174- 
Prisoners,  35,000  within  an  area  of  27  acres, 

231. 

Prisoners  crying  for  food  and  water,  170. 
Providence   Spring,   believed  by  prisoners  to 
have  burst   forth   as  act  of  God  for  their 
relief.  484,  502,  508. 
Provisions  abundant  in  Georgia,  191. 
Provisions:   corn,   wheat,  and  potatoes  raised 

in  abundance,  156. 

Punishment  of  theft  and  murder  abandoned 
to  prisoners.  85. 


committed  aH  forms  of 

hung  by  outraged  prisoners,  264. 
mam,   twenty   days   in    sneeesf. 

without  shelter;  t 

some  naked,  267. 
Rations  frequently  stopped,  222,  226. 
Rations,  none  on  July  4  within  Ike  aftirtiir, 

Rations  carried  in  same  wagons  in  which  the 
dead  had  been  carried,  258. 

Rations,  articles  aad  jaialaj,  277. 

"Rations  not  sufficient  to  sustain  fife,"  180. 

Ration,  daily;  two  oz.  TrTfrl  beef  and  one- 
half  pint  rice  soup;  compared  with  Eaajbfc 
dietary  and  U.  S.  ration,  107. 

Rations,  distributing,  picture,  142. 


stopped  for 

Rations  rery  poor,  scant,  some  days 

ismoed  Tery  MMaaJLulj,  166. 
Rations  stopped  for  a  day  for  not  faffing;  mto 

ranks  properly,  274. 
Kalians :  rain,  no  fuel  nor  utensils,  67. 
Read,  Carrie  R.,  506. 

Rebel  witnesses,  none  denied  the  awful  suf 
ferings  and  the  -«•.*•  tf  mortality.  218. 
Record  of  the  sick  previous  to  September  14, 

1864,  87. 
Relics  gathered  by  Miss  Clara  Barton  at  the 

prison  grounds;  picture  of,  203. 
Return  of  prisoners  for  July,  1864,  69. 
Return    of    prisoners    for    August,    1864,    at 

taken  up  by  die  dags,  63. 
Report  on  sanitary  condition  of  prison  by  R. 

R.    Stevenson,   surgeon  in  charge. 

per  cent  died  in  October  in  has;* 
Report   on    prison  conditions,   72; 

death  rate. 
Report  of  Surgeon  R.  R. 

her  14-20.  1864,  88. 
Report  of  Dr.  Amos  Thornburg,  108. 
Report    of    Assistant    1mjf\m  F.  J.  WeEs, 

September  14-20,  1864,  87. 
Fcafaaiiiifiij   for  overcrowding,  55,  65.  . 
Rhode  Island,  monument  in  iiaMinj    357. 
Reports    sent   to   Richmond   suggesting   refief 

slumbered  in  pigeon  holes,  103. 
Rules  for  government  of  proceedings,  42, 
Rules   governing   prisoners   in   time   of   war 

384- 

RusselL  B.  F..  of  irth  Penn.  Cavalry.  Co.  A, 
in  stocks  for  48  hours  without  food  or  wa 
ter,  297. 


Sacramento  Bee  (California') :  "Let  the 
for    monument    to     miafiiurti  _ 

laiaul  in  the  South,**  519. 

Salt,  traffic  in:  thrown  Old  stockade  to  pur 
chasers.  228, 

Salt  sold  to  the  prisoners  by  cooks  and  trad 
ers,  227. 

Salt  sold  to  the  prisoners  by  the  guards,  aat 

San   Francisco   Chronicle,   story  af  DWc 
Atwater  and  his  death,  481. 

SaaJtory  conditions  but  a  BMIJMI    67. 

Saw-mills,    "Four   or  fire   in   the"  vicinity 
Anderson  vine."    railroads    hauling;    " 
to  and  fro.  155. 

Scott.  W.  M..  P^st  TTi|iiHBMa< 
G.  A.  R..  Georgia.  509. 


528 


INDEX— CONTINUED. 


Scurvy  was  general:  many  had  to  crawl  on 
the  ground,  169. 

Schade  &  Baker,  attorneys  for  Wirz,   36. 

Seddon,  J.  A.,  rebel  Secretary  of  War;  re 
ports  to  pigeonholed,  61,  63. 

Sentinels,  30  days'  furlough  to  every  man 
who  would  shoot  a  Yankee,  338. 

Sentries,  said  they  got  30  days'  furlough  for 
shooting  prisoners,  273. 

Sherwood,  General  Isaac  (Ohio  Rep.),  great 
help  to  Women's  Relief  Corps  in  restoring 
prison  grounds,  503. 

Shelter  for  prisoners  impossible,  lumber  used 
for  other  purposes,  54. 

Shelter,  lack  of,  from  sun  and  rain,   128. 

Shelter  largely  obtained  by  digging  holes  in 
the  ground,  170. 

Sherman,  General  W.  T.,  surrender  of  John 
ston,  36;  early  in  war  ordered  slaves  re 
turned  to  masters,  440,  443. 

Sherman,  General,  letters  to  General  Grant, 
supplies  in  Georgia  abundant,  191. 

Sherman's  march  to  the  sea,   191. 

Sherwood,  Kate  B.,  503. 

Sick  and  wounded,  morning  reports,  87. 

"Six  square  feet  to  the  man,"  66. 

Sifters  for  bolting  meal  "not  to  be  had  in  the 
Confederacy,"  but  could  have  been  easily 
made,  212. 

Sick  call,  etc.:  "Many  would  crawl  on  hands 
and  knees  pleading  for  medicine,"  182. 

Sick,  the:  "Take  him  back  to  the  stockade — 
not  hospital — he  will  live  until  to-morrow," 
^182. 

Sick,  the,  majority  in  hospital  had  to  lie  on 
bare  ground;  much  rain,  and  food  unfit, 
175- 

Sick  men,  many,  with  no  friends  to  carry 
them  to  the  gate,  either  in  their  blankets 
or  upon  their  backs,  failed  to  get  prescrip 
tions,  1 1 6. 

Slaves  as  "contraband  of  war,"  when  cap- 
turned  should  have  been  declared  free,  441. 

Slaves  as  United  States  soldiers,   446. 

Smallpox,  patient  with  put  in  tent  with  men 
not  affected,  172. 

Smith,  Goldwin,  visited  prisons;  condemned 
Andersonville,  190. 

Soap,  no,  nor  change  of  clothing,   147. 

Specific  acts  of  cruelty,   163. 

Stanton,  Edwin  M.,  27;  on  exchange  of  pris 
oners,  always  willing  to  on  equal  footing. 
458.  ^ 

Starvation,  many  died  from,  record  abounds 
in  evidence  of,  181. 

Statement  regarding  number  of  prisoners, 
deaths,  etc.,  61. 

Stevenson,  Surgeon  R.  R.,  reports  of,  88, 
105.  See  Index,  reports  of. 

Stewart.  William,  9th  Minn.  Inf.,  murdered 
by  Wirz,  351. 

Stibbs,  Lieutenant-Colonel  J.  H.,  31,  386; 
now  in  Chicago;  member  of  court,  gives 
interesting  account  of  trial,  354. 

Showing  incredible  malice  and  criminality, 
407. 

Stockade,  51. 

Stockade,  view  of  from  south  gate,  167. 

Stockade,  the,  concentrated  all  iniquities  of 
perdition,  355. 

Stockade,  conditions  indescribable,   355. 

Stockade,  one  huge  latrine,  356. 

Stockade,  "Indescribable  suffering  in,"  357, 
358. 


Stockade,  overcrowded,  with  difficulty  one 
could  elbow  his  way  in  any  part  of  the 
camp,  170. 

Stockade,  the,  "a  perfect  hell  upon  earth," 
men  fight  for  room  to  lie  down,  177. 

Stockade,  description  of,  51,  56,  57,  353. 

Swamp,   "offensive  enough  to  kill,"  166. 

Swamp,  the  unspeakable,   103. 

Swamp,  filled  with  untold  impurities,  230. 

Supreme  Court,  the:  "The  rebellion  out  of 
which  the  war  grew  was  without  any  legal 
sanction,"  had  no  status  as  recognized  gov 
ernment,  516. 

Stores  sent  to  prisoners,  no  evidence  that  they 
were  ever  received  at  Andersonville,  159. 

Storehouses,  large  quantities  of  sugar,  rice, 
molasses,  corn,  wheat  and  flour  stored  in 
Macon,  156. 

Stocks  and  lashes,  men  stood  in  "like  the 
image  of  Christ  crucified,"  282. 

Stocks,  two  kinds  described;  exposed  to  sun 
and  rain  in;  man  died  form  exposure  in, 
242,  243,  249,  262,  272,  275,  276,  297. 

Stone,  Governor  Wm.  A.,  498. 


Tablet  of  Woman's  Relief  Corps,  471. 

Taft,  William  H.,  President  of  United  States, 

503- 
Tanner  on  Wirz  monument,  address  of  1906, 

12;  reply  to  Torrence,  15. 
Taylor,    Robert    L.,    United     States     Senator, 

Tennessee,     motives     of     Confederate     and 

Union  soldiers  same,  516. 
Thomas,    Brevet    Major-General    L.,    member 

of  court,  31. 
Thompson,   General  Jeff,  order  in  retaliation 

of  General  Freemont's  order,  439. 
Thunderstorm     and     hurricane,    a    most    dra 
matic  moment,  broke  down  stockade;  guns 

trained   on   prisoners,   201. 
Timber:   it  was  a  timber  country — enough  to 

supply  the  camp  and  more,  and  within  easy 

hauling  distance,   173. 
Timber,  plenty  of  it,   131. 
Total    deaths    at    Andersonville    over    13,000, 

Torrence,  Ell,  remarks  on  Wirz  monument 
at  G.  A.  R.  National  Encampment,  15. 

Traders,  every  man  traded  who  had  means, 
231. 

Transfer  of  prison  grounds,  508. 

Trench  for  the  dead,  dug  two  or  three  feet 
deep;  no  covering  of  dead  except  earth; 
buried  naked  often,  256. 

Trenches,   the,   for  burial,   281. 

Trial  of  Henry  Wirz,  brought  to  light  inner 
motives  of  rebellion,  27. 

Tribute  to  Union  prisoners,  517. 

Turner,  Lizabeth,   76,  $12. 

Turner,  Major  Thos.  P.,  recommended  Wirz' 
promotion,  61. 

Turner,  Wesley  W.,  in  charge  of  the  blood 
hounds  under  Wirz'  direction,  25. 

Typical  soldier  of  the  Union,  half-tone  pic 
ture,  269. 


U 


Unidentified  dead,  486,  marked  as  unknown; 

229  without  known  resting  place — not  even 

marked   "unknown,"   376. 
United  Daughters  of  the  Confederacy,  12. 


INDEX— CONTINUED. 


529 


Vaccination  and  smallpox,   109,  243,  260,  290, 

297,   326. 
Van  Sant,  Governor  Samuel  R.,  Commander- 

in-Chief  G.  A.   R.,  507. 
Vegetables   in  abundance,    119. 
Vegetables      in      abundance      in      surrounding 

country,   171. 
Vermin  and  lice,   126. 
Views  in  Andersonville  Cemetery,  315. 


W 


Wainman,  Mrs.  T.  C.,  dedication  of  Woman's 
Relief  Corps  tablet,  510. 

Wadsworth,  Mrs.  Lue  Stuart,  National  Pa 
triotic  Instructor,  Woman's  Relief  Corps, 
509. 

Wallace,  Major-General  Lew,  president  of 
Commission,  31,  429. 

Warner,  Senator  William,  promoted  accept 
ance  of  grounds  by  Government,  503. 

Washington  National  Tribune,  Colonel  Mc- 
Elroy,  editor  of,  464. 

Water,  inadequate  and  exceedingly  filthy, 
covered  with  floating  grease  and  offal,  166. 

Whelan,  Rev.  Father  Peter,  testified  at  great 
length  of  conditions  at  Andersonville; 
Davis  said  not  allowed  to  testify;  see  his 
testimony,  22,  193. 

Wells,   Surgeon  F.  J.,  reports,  87. 

White,  Surgeon  Isaiah  H.,  reports  of,  72, 
102,  397. 

Whipped  and  put  in  stocks  for  being  unable 
to  work,  270. 

Willett,   Major  J.   M.,   38. 

Williams,  John  Sharp,  U.  S.  Senator  Mis 
sissippi,  in  charge  of  the  Confederate  Na 
val  Monument  Bill,  516. 

Wilson,  Major-General  J.  H.,  U.  S.  A.,  im 
portant  testimony  as  to  prison  location; 
indicated  design  to  kill,  47. 

Wilson,  Governor  Woodrow,  370. 


Winans,  Mrs.  Sarah  D.,  report  of  Woman's 
Relief  Corps;  took  important  part  in  restor 
ing  prison  pen  and  inducing  the  Govern 
ment  to  purchase,  504-507. 

Winans,  J.  Corey,  Jr.,  510. 

Winder,  W.  S.,  assigning  Surgeon  Jones, 
414. 

Winder,  W.  S.,  32,  53. 

Winder,  W.  S. :  "We  will  kill  more  damned 
Yankees  than  can  be  destroyed  at  the 
front,"  153. 

Winder,  Richard  B.,   32. 

Winder,  Captain  R.  B.,  his  duty  to  furnish 
fuel  and  shelter,  212. 

Winder,  General  J.  H.,  61. 

Winder,  General  John  H.,  32;  letter  of,  61, 
63. 

Winder,  General  J.  H.,  recommends  the  atro 
cious  policy  of  starving  the  prisoners  to 
death  or  killing  them  by  exposure,  74;  the 
moving  spirit  of  evil,  76. 

Winder,  General  J.  H.,  in  face  of  unspeak 
able  conditions,  promoted,  78. 

Wisconsin,   monument  in   cemetery,   488. 

Wirz  monument,  inscriptions  on,  8,  18,  24, 
25;  reason  for  erection,  12,  13,  15. 

Wirz,  Captain  Henry,  assumed  command  of 
prison  March  27,  1864,  393. 

Wirz,  Captain  H.,  brutality,  profanity  and 
vulgarity,  specific  acts  of  shown  by  testi 
mony  culminating  in  deliberate  murder, 
119,  163,  175,  223,  241,  247,  249,  250,  251, 
259,  260,  263,  264,  265,  266,  268,  270,  272, 
273,  275,  277>  278,  280,  282,  283,  284,  286, 
296,  332,  337,  345- 

Wirz,  Captain  H.,  17,  27,  32,  36;  pictures  of, 
43,  44,  49. 

Wirz,  Captain  H.,  report  of,  60;  return  for 
July,  1864,  69;  return  for  August,  64; 
return  for  October,  101. 

Woman's  Relief  Corps,  work  at  cemetery, 
499- 

Wood,  "no  man  allowed  outside  for  wood 
unless  three  dollars  were  paid  guard,"  180. 

Works,  John  D.,  U.  S.  Senator  California, 
favors  appropriation  to  erect  monument  to 
Confederate  Navy,  516. 


INDEX  OF  NAMES  OF  WITNESSES 


It  has  not  been  thought  of  special  value  to  the  reader  to  give  a  synopsis  of  the 
testimony  of  each  witness.  In  the  general  index  attempt  has  been  made  to  note 
the  subjects  sufficiently  to  give  a  clue  to  the  principal  salient  facts  and  where 
to  find  them  in  the  book.  To  give  the  testimony  of  each  witness  would  not 
aid  in  this  search.  The  testimony  of  witnesses  covers  a  wide  range  and 
relates  to  many  facts  and  should  be  carefully  read.  A  perfectly  satisfactory 
index  is  rarely  met  with.  It  is  hoped  that  the  one  here  given  may  be  found 
to  be  reasonably  satisfactory. 


Achuff,  Joseph  R.,  testimony  of,  261. 
Adler,  Joseph  (nurse),  testimony  of,  174,  267. 
Alden,  J.  Everett,  testimony  of,   181,  295. 
Allen,  Nazareth,  testimony  of,  252. 
Andrews,    Samuel   J.    M.,    testimony   of,    182, 
297- 


a 

Balser,   Dr.  William,  testimony  of,   139. 
Barrows,  Dr.  A.  V.,  testimony  of,  243. 
Bates,  Dr.  John  C.,  testimony  of,   125. 
Belcher,  O.  S.,  testimony  of,  258,  338. 
Blair,  A.  G.,  testimony  of,  284. 
Boyle,  Major  Archibald,  testimony  of,  177. 
Brown,  J.  D.,  testimony  of,  335. 
Brown,  Samuel  D.,  testimony  of,  334. 
Bull,   William,   testimony  of,   282. 
Burns,  James  H.,  testimony  of,  283. 
Bussinger,  Daniel  W.,  testimony  of,  263. 


Cain,  John  A.,  testimony  of,  182. 
Cashmyer,  Philip,  detective,  testimony  of,  77. 
Castlen,  Dr.  F.  G.,  testimony  of,   119,  250. 
Chandler,    Col.    D.   T.,   testimony  of,    52,    66, 

68,   73- 

Clancy,  James,   testimony  of,    174. 
Clark,  J.  Nelson,  testimony  of,  174. 
Conway,  George,  testimony  of,  347. 
Corbett,  Boston,  testimony  of,  166. 
Crandall,  W.  W.,  testimony  of,  275,  288. 
Grouse,  William,  testimony  of,  273. 
Culver,  Jasper,   testimony  of,  278. 


Davidson,  James  K.,  testimony  of,  258. 
De  La  Baume,  Felix,  testimony  of,  342. 
Dillard,  William,  testimony  of,  254. 


Hall,  Major  W.  Carvel,  testimony  of,  79. 
Halley,  P.  Vincent,  testimony  of,  259. 
Hamilton,  Rev.  W.  J.,  testimony  of,  143. 
Head,  Dr.  B.  J.,  testimony  of,  137. 
Heath,  Captain  John  F.,  testimony  of,  253. 
Henman,   Ambrose,   testimony  of,  353. 
Hogan,    Martin    E.,    testimony    of,    170,    249, 

Hopkins,  Dr.  G.  S.,  testimony  of,  119. 
Home,  Thomas  H.,  testimony  of,  176. 
Huneycutt,  Calvin,  testimony  of,  255. 


Jennings,   William  Henry,   testimony  of,  270. 
Jones,    Dr.   Joseph,   testimony  of,   81,   83,   99, 

359- 
Jones,  J.  B.,  testimony  of,  77. 

K 

Kean,  R.  T.  H.,  testimony  of,  75. 
Kellogg,  Edward  S.,  testimony  of,  260. 
Kellogg,  Robert  H.,  testimony  of,  164,  222. 
Kennel,  Alexander,  testimony  of,  271. 
Keyser,  Joseph  D.,  testimony  of,    172,  249. 

M 

Maddox,   Frank,  testimony  of,  265. 
Marsh,  Dr.  M.  M.,  testimony  of,  158. 
Marshall,  James  E.,  testimony  of,  274. 
Moesner,  Augustus,  testimony  of,  159,  327. 
Mohan,  James,  testimony  of,  256. 

N 

Noyes,  Captain  Henry  E.,  testimony  of,  45. 


Orcutt,  D.  S.,  testimony  of,  348. 


Fairclough,  Oliver  B.,  testimony  of,  339. 

Fisher,  John,  testimony  of,  276. 

French,   Captain  Wilson,  testimony  of,   180. 


Peebles,  William  M.,  testimony  of,  275. 
Persons,  Colonel  A.  W.,  testimony  of,  52. 
Pond,  L.  S.,  testimony  of,  272. 


Gibbs,   Colonel  T.,   testimony  of,  241. 
Goldsmith,   John  H.,   testimony  of,   277. 
Gray,  George  W.,  testimony  of,  351. 
Griffin,  J.  R.,  testimony  of,  294. 
Griffin,  W.  A.,  testimony  of,  155. 


Rice,  Dr.  G.  L.  B.,  testimony  of,  122. 
Riker,  Samuel  M.,  testimony  of,  289. 
Robinson,  Mark  D.,  testimony  of,  44. 
Roy,  Dr.  G.  G.,  testimony  of,  135. 
Russell,    Charles  H.,   testimony  of,   287,    348. 


532 


WITNESSES— CONTINUED. 


» 

Scott,  William  Willis,  testimony  of,  340. 
Selph,  Captain  C.  M.,  testimony  of,  58,  65. 
Smith,  Charles  E.,  testimony  of,  290. 
Smith,   Goldwin,  testimony  of,   190. 
Smith,  Sidney,  testimony  of,  272. 
Snee,  Hugh  R.,  testimony  of,  349. 
Spencer,   Ambrose,   testimony  of,    150. 
Spring,   Andrew  J.,   testimony  of,    173,   251. 
Stearns,   D.   H.,  testimony  of,   175,   270. 

T 

Tate,  Robert,   52nd  Penn.  Vol.,  testimony  of, 

296. 

Terrell,   Horatio  B.,  testimony  of,  264. 
Thornburg,  Dr.  Amos,  testimony  of,  108, 
Tibbies,   Charles  E.,  testimony  of,  344. 
Tracy,  Prescott,  testimony  of,  341. 


108,  in. 


Van   Buren,   Willis,   testimony  of,    177. 
Van  Valkenburg,  James,  testimony  of,    156. 

W 

Walker,  John  Burns,  testimony  of,   179,  286. 
Walsh,    Thomas,    testimony    of,    179,     (diary) 

292. 

Welling,  Colonel  George,  testimony  of,  189. 
Williams,  Charles  T.,  testimony  of,  291. 
Wilson,    Major-General   J.    H.,    testimony    of, 

47,    184. 
Wright,   Lieutenant  J.   H.,  testimony  of,   157. 


Younker,  John  L.,  testimony  of,  280. 


WITNESSES    FOR   DEFENSE 


Allen,  Nazareth,  testimony  of,  202. 
Armstrong,  Captain  J.  W.,  testimony  of,  202- 
301. 


B 

Bardo,   Vincenzo,   testimony  of,   219. 
Bates,  Dr.  John  C.,  testimony  of,  205,  302. 
Boate,  Edward  Wellington,  testimony  of,  2 
i- 


29, 


C 

Castlen,   Dr.   F.   G.,  testimony  of,  206-302. 
Clavereul,   Father   (diary),   198. 
Crandall,  W.  W.,  testimony  of,  315. 


H 

Hall,  Samuel,  testimony  of,  201,  308. 
Hamilton,  Rev.  W.  J.,  testimony  of,  305. 
Hammack,  W.  D.,  testimony  of,  210,  309. 
Harris,   Martin   S.,  testimony  of,   226,   323. 
Heath,     Lieutenant    John    F.,    testimony    of, 
204. 


Kellogg,   Robert  H.,   testimony  of,   222. 

M 

Moesner,  Augustus,  testimony  of,  224,  327. 


Dilly,  Benjamin  F.,  testimony  of,  321,  316. 
Duncan,  Rev.   E.  B.,  testimony  of,  208. 


Persons,    Colonel    A.    W.,    testimony   of,    211, 

310. 
Proctor,    Major    Geo.    L.,    testimony   of,    213- 


Fannin,    Col.    James    H.,    testimony    of,    209, 

306. 

Fechtner,  George  W.,  testimony  of,  235. 
Flewellen,   Dr.    E.    A.,   testimony  of,  207-302. 
French,  Major  S.  B.,  testimony  of,  209. 


Gleich,  August,  testimony  of,  232,  316. 
Guscetti,  Frederick,  testimony  of,  233,  319. 


Roth,   Fredreick,  testimony  of,  220,  324,  330. 
Roy,  Dr.  G.  G.,  testimony  of,  302. 
Ruffin,    Lieutenant-Colonel     F.    G.,    testimony 
of,  213. 

W 

Whelan,   Rev.   Peter,  testimony  of,   193. 
Wright,  Captain  J.  H.  testimony  of,  216,  311. 


£(,12 
A5CS3ZI 


